Disclaimer: The article doesn’t support the idea of being fat as something negative or something that needs to change. To each its own. 

There are days, when we stand in front of the mirror and having internalised all the bullshit beauty standards, look at ourselves from the lens of those very standards. Our self-confidence dwindles and it affects all the domains of our life.

In a Humans of Bombay post, Kritika Khurana AKA ‘That Boho Girl’ talks about her journey from being a person who struggled with her self-esteem to someone who spreads the message of self-love.

She talks about how, to cope with her personal issues, she started to binge eat.

I had a major fall out with my best friend. Overnight I became lonely. It felt like my world had turned upside down. Problems look much bigger & things hurt more when you’re just a child. So to cope, I began to binge eat. I became an overweight kid who was always in the background. This went on for two years – it affected my self-esteem severely.

Her brother shook her out of this rut and asked her to focus on what she does best- styling. 

Eventually, Kritika rose to success. She made it a point to use her platform to preach the message of self-love.

Now that I had a platform, I decided to talk about something I wished I knew when I was a kid – self-love. I wanted to reach out to anybody who’d been through what I did & be there for them. 

The pressure and negativity from fellow bloggers took a toll on her mental health, but this time Kritika knew better than to let some trolls pull her down. She decided to own her ‘shortcomings’ and turn them into her strengths-

I work day in & day out to not just show everyone the best parts of me, but the worst too. I make it my mission that everyone who watches me knows that nothing worth having comes easy. I’ve actively chosen to not hide my shortcomings from the world – it’s important for me that they know they’re not alone in their heartbreaks & their failures.

The gap between self-doubt and self-love can be traversed by owning your flaws.

Read the entire post here. 

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“When I was in the 10th grade, I had a major fall out with my best friend. Overnight I became lonely. It felt like my world had turned upside down. Problems look much bigger & things hurt more when you’re just a child. So to cope, I began to binge eat. I became an overweight kid who was always in the background. This went on for two years – it affected my self-esteem severely. I couldn’t seem to get out of this rut. I was stuck & it was my brother who pulled me out. He came to me & asked me to dabble in fashion. He said that I had a good sense of what goes with what & I should let the world see it. I got a new lease of life that day– just what I needed to start afresh. In 2014, I wrote my first blog. It was simple – just about how I’d styled a dress. One post turned into several & documenting my ‘style’ helped me gain back my confidence. With every new outfit, I was learning to love myself. I even started losing weight & lost almost 25 kilos! Now that I had a platform, I decided to talk about something I wished I knew when I was a kid – self-love. I wanted to reach out to anybody who’d been through what I did & be there for them. Gradually, people began to message me about how the fact that I was embracing myself, helped them love themselves too! But, everything comes at a price. Sometimes I even got a lot of flak online. I remember, once another blogger posted about how I had ‘bought’ my followers & it was all fake. I got a wave of hate messages! I was in such a toxic space. It began to take a toll on my mental health. But this time, I knew what to do. I’d learned from my mistakes. So somehow, I persisted – I had to fight it & look beyond the hate. So I concentrated, instead, on the love of those who were standing right by me. With their support, I got back on my feet once again. I work day in & day out to not just show everyone the best parts of me, but the worst too. I make it my mission that everyone who watches me knows that nothing worth having comes easy. I’ve actively chosen to not hide my shortcomings from the world – it’s important for me that they know they’re not alone in their heartbreaks & their failures.”

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