You hear a variety of comments from people who have lost a lot of weight.  Usually they run in about two different ways:

1)  Comments about feeling like a completely different person, about the “old me,” and the “new me.”

2)  Comments about being the same person, just smaller.

For myself, I think I fall somewhere in between.  I believe that I am the same person I was before, just a bit more confident and more willing to be who I am regardless of what others think.

My interests haven’t changed all that much. I still love to read and watch movies and do crafts.  I’m still addicted to science fiction, fantasy, and video games.  I still love poetry, and politics, and thinking about life.  I still care about others and the world around me.  I still try to be sensitive to how others are feeling and what they may be thinking.  I still try not to intentionally hurt people’s feelings, and I still try to see every side of every situation.  I still tend to worry (about everything), dog-ear books, and become impatient.  I’m still a klutz.  I still stick my foot (or feet) in my mouth and leave my shoes in the middle of the floor.  I still have food issues.  None of that has changed.  At heart, I’m still the same person.

However.

I am more willing and eager to try new things.  I am less concerned about what others may think about me trying those new things.  I am less concerned by what others may be saying about me behind my back.  I am more willing to speak up for myself.  I am more willing to shout “I am Pamela and I deserve to be cared about, respected, and treated well” to the world (not literally, of course, although that might be kind of funny).  I am more willing to state my opinion.  I feel freer and not weighed down as much (pun intended).  I am more willing to be seen in public.  In general, I am more willing to just be me, accept who that is, and not hide her from the world.

And I could give a flying crap about whether or not I am who, what, or what size, I’m “supposed” to be.

As an added bonus, would the “old Pamela” have let her picture be taken while she sat on a rhino?  Of course not, for some pretty obvious reasons!