I was always sad because nobody liked me and I had no friends...no TRUE friends. So, I made food my friend. When I was sad, I ate. When I was stressed out, I ate. When I was lonely, I ate. It was the only thing that took my mind off my mental anguish of being different. It was the only thing that comforted me when I needed to be comforted. After coming home from school and being bullied, I took even more criticism from my brothers and sisters. Sometimes being called fat ass, tubbo, lard bucket...just to name a few. I'm not trying to put my brothers and sisters on the spot..but it IS part of my story. Part of my life.
When I got a job as a teen-ager and had my own money, I started to buy things like diet pills and laxatives. I was bound and determined to get the weight off....even if it killed me. Anything to stop the stares and the finger pointing, and the name calling...I couldn't take anymore. Let's just say that from my teen years and into my adult life, I tried everything under the sun. All the fad diets, the "miracle weight loss pills"...you name it, I tried it. NONE of it worked. What I REALLY needed to do was excercise...plain and simple. But I had neither the inspiration nor the want-to to do it. Not even the energy...I had basically given up.
Until last year. I saw the video for Mmmbop for the first time. I instantly fell in love with the song. It was so upbeat and energizing. I couldn't hear it enough times. I went out one day and bought the cassette single of Mmmbop. On one side of it, there were "snipits" of other songs from Middle Of Nowhere. One of those songs was I Will Come To You. Because of THAT snipit, I just HAD to have Middle of Nowhere. Just the few seconds I heard of that song were so inspiring, I was floored. It made me want to get out and walk...hey...I was EXCERCISING!!! After I got Middle of Nowhere, I wouldn't listen to anything else. It kept me going... literally!! I put it in the stereo in the morning and wouldn't stop listening to it until I went to bed.
I started walking every day and would walk with no other music but Hanson. I even got to the point where I would get VERY disappointed if I missed one of my walks. Because, not only was I missing out on the excercise, I was missing out on "my time" of being by myself with my new-found favorite musical group!! Thanks to Hanson and their inspirational and energizing songs, I managed to walk off a total of 43 pounds. I'm a different person because of it, and for that, I cannot thank them enough. I'm not exactly to my weight goal, but at least I finally have a head start. I didn't think I'd ever even get THIS far!
I can only dream of one day being able to tell them face to face what they've done for me...how their music changed my life. For now, all I can say is thank you! Thank you for inspiring me. Thank you for energizing me and making me feel young again. Thank you for giving me hope. Thank you for making my life a happier one. For all of this, I greatly respect you and appreciate you. You'll never know what gratitude I feel inside. I know they'll never read this and learn of what they've done for just this one person. For this, my thoughts, my prayers and only my best wishes are with you in everything you ever do or attempt to do. Now and forever. Your most thankful fan...~*Stephanie
1 Samuel 16:7 - 'for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the
heart'
If God can, why can't we??
