Jasmine Pay: Do it for yourself

Like most girls out there, I was never the “skinny, pretty girl” to begin with. Since young, I was always overweight and was in the TAF Club from primary school to secondary school. It doesn’t help that I love to eat. Of course, my classmates always gave me weird nicknames but I got over it.

It was only after I went to ITE after my GCE “O” levels that I started to get very concerned about how people looked at me, so I asked my mum to bring me to a weight management company to aid me in losing weight. During the period of treatment, I did lose about 20kg and I was at my lowest weight in life. That was when I met this guy who later went on to negatively impact my life greatly.

During the course of the 6-year relationship with this guy, I not only gained back the 20kg, I put on more! In the process, I also lost my identity, my money, my life, my trust, my friends and my family. However, I continued to stick with this guy, because I felt fat and ugly, I had very low self-esteem and no confidence in myself. I was afraid that I will be all alone if I leave him and that I will never meet another guy again.

Just two years ago, he started to cheat on me and waving his punches at me. At the same time I witnessed domestic violence with my own eyes which got me thinking, “Would I want to be with a guy like him for the rest of my life? What if he attacks me?”

That was when I realised I needed to get out of this relationship. It was a huge struggle when I was making the decision but I know I have to start loving myself and start living for myself. Hence, I took the leap and left him for good. I kept reminding myself that without him, my life would be better.

To me, self-love is to move on from whatever that is making us miserable. From the time I left him until now, it has been about 2 years plus and I have achieved so much more compared to the 6 years I was with him. It was not easy but I got out of my comfort zone, pushed myself hard to achieve where I am today. I am happier, healthier and of course, surrounded with all the people whom I love everyday.

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