A bit disillusioned

When I joined the 12WBT challenge I was full of excitement and joy. Excitement that I was finally doing something about my weight issues, and doing it correctly for once and joy, because I knew that if I followed the program I could see a light peeking out behind all the fat. Please don’t get me wrong, that excitement and joy is still there. But it is now tainted with just a little disillusionment.

The forums were a huge part of why I joined. I loved that there were so many other people out there like me, people that could share in my journey, as I could share in theirs. This was a place that I could open up and be honest (apart from on here), where I could ask questions and have answers and I could be free to be my fat, losing weight self.

I’m very sad to say that the forums for me now, just aren’t the same. There have been posts on there, that start with “Apologies in advance if I offend anyone but….” And surely you know, that if you have to start a post with something like that, then it is going to offend at least one person, and in an open place like these forums, why post it. To then have pointed digs at certain other members, was I think a little below the line. I myself got greatly offended by this post, even though I know that it wasn’t directed at me, but it made me realise, that it’s just not safe to be able to go in and say “I stuffed up” without it eventually getting thrown back in your face, and this isn’t what we need when we are on this journey of hell journey of healthy eating. Now there are posts in there about forum etiquette and making sure you don’t post things twice. All I want to say is “Lighten up people” It’s a forum, if you think you’ve read it before, just don’t go in and read it again. Not everyone has all day to sit there and sift through all the posts, not everyone is completely computer savvy and knows about correct searching techniques. Lighten up and let people be people. Would you say to someone’s face, “Don’t ask me that question, I’ve already been asked it” if it happened in real life?

I personally feel that I just can’t be bothered with the forums anymore, which is very sad, because I did feel I was getting something out of it. And there is still a lot of positivity about in there, amongst the crap. But I find that my own temper is getting shorter and shorter when I read posts that just denigrate others, and as those that know me in real life know, when my temper gets short, my mouth tends to run away with me. In this case it will be my fingers typing furiously away and I can tell you, I won’t hit Delete Post afterwards.

This hasn’t changed my desire for following the program. I will be following it wholeheartedly just as I have been doing, but I think it will free some more time up for me to go and do something off the computer now. It really just makes me rather sad, and makes me feel like I have lost a friend. (Or a lot of them).