12/06/2026
The older I get, the more I realise that some people don’t judge your character, your intelligence, or your work ethic first.
They judge your body.
And honestly, that disgusts me.
If you’ve followed this page for a while, you know I occasionally get personal. You aren’t just followers to me anymore. Many of you have become friends, and one of the things I love most about the Cairns community is feeling like I can have conversations like this without being judged.
So here goes.
Over the past decade, my weight has fluctuated dramatically due to struggles with eating disorders. I’ve experienced both ends of the spectrum. I’ve been severely underweight, hospitalised, hooked up to a feeding tube, and forced to gain weight to survive. I’ve also been in larger bodies.
What frustrates me is how differently people treat you depending on what you look like.
When I was thinner, I was praised for my appearance. People were friendlier. I received more opportunities. I felt like my opinions carried more weight. I was taken more seriously.
What most people didn’t know was that behind the scenes, I was incredibly unwell.
At one point, I was surviving on less than 500 calories a day.
People saw the blonde hair, the tiny waist, the “ideal” body and assumed everything was fine.
It wasn’t.
Now that I’m in a much healthier place physically and mentally, I’ve noticed something interesting. I don’t always receive the same treatment I did back then. The respect, opportunities, and assumptions people make can shift depending on what they see on the outside.
And that’s a problem.
Because eating disorders don’t have a look.
Health doesn’t have a look.
Struggle doesn’t have a look.
A person in a larger body can be battling serious eating issues. A person in a smaller body can be incredibly unwell. You simply don’t know what someone is going through by looking at them.
If there’s one thing I want people to know about me, it’s this:
Whether you are a size 6 or a size 26, conventionally attractive or not, successful or struggling, I will treat you with the same respect.
Not because it’s admirable.
Because it should be normal.
The fact that this even needs to be said in 2026 is heartbreaking.
But maybe if more people talked about it, we’d stop judging bodies and start seeing people.
