A few days ago, I posted on Instagram with the phrase "I have scoliosis, and I love myself very much," and then I asked who else loved themselves despite having a crooked spine. What's most interesting about all of this is the diversity of responses I received on this post. This is because we're talking about human beings, each of whom has a unique experience and perception of a particular situation and themselves. In my post, I received comments from people who agreed with my statement and others who said they don't love themselves because of scoliosis.
We know that dealing with scoliosis is not easy; in fact, it's a significant challenge that keeps us awake at night precisely because we have no certainty about what will happen. We try everything, but we don't really have any certainty, and this generates a lot of insecurity, both for those with the deformity and for their closest family members. But the question that remains is: can we love ourselves with a crooked spine?
In my view, we need to separate this question carefully. After all, one thing is not liking scoliosis, and quite another is not liking oneself.
I hate scoliosis and my crooked spine
Natural! Who likes it, right? This spinal condition is not easy to face, especially when we feel lost regarding treatment and prospects. In fact, worse than that is what the crooked spine does to our self-esteem and our physique. We look in the mirror, and there comes that feeling of 'I look awful, just look at my back.' Or the most classic of all thoughts: 'Why me?' Well, this brings a sense of great sadness, and often, we succumb to this feeling. However, this doesn't mean we're not happy in many moments of the day or that we don't love ourselves. It means we don't love scoliosis. We can have moments of unhappiness due to the condition. That's normal. But ceasing to like ourselves is a different, much higher level
I don't like myself
This is indeed a much deeper issue that requires psychological help to understand the root of your lack of self-love and how to recover it. It's possible that scoliosis may indeed be your most significant challenge. I've been through this, and I know exactly what it's like. Believe me! However, if we face it as just one part of us, it becomes easier to separate things. The crooked spine or any other deformity doesn't define us, not at all; it's a condition we have in our body. What makes us who we are is our personality, mindset, character, approach to life, and how we deal with the difficulties that come our way. Right? So, if you're in a situation where you genuinely believe that you don't like yourself, try to see everything from a different perspective. If you can't, don't hesitate to seek help from a psychologist. I'm confident that a good professional in the field will know how to handle this issue in the best possible way and bring that self-love back!
In the post "Four Tips to Improve the Self-Esteem of Those with Scoliosis" I discuss some points that I believe are important to focus on so that we can love ourselves and be happy despite having scoliosis.
For me, it was a matter of learning, over time, to separate these two things. I don't like scoliosis, that's a fact. But today I can say with absolute certainty that I love myself, despite the crooked spine.
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