Do you feel ashamed of yourself for being overweight? Write about all the myriad feelings you may be experiencing around this idea of shame.

When I had a serious obesity problem, I was full of shame. On the outside, I acted like the happiest, funniest fat clown in the world. Inside, I was experiencing a spiritual meltdown. I felt so inferior to other people. I felt like the fat was all my own doing (as others had told me it was my fault). I felt sick. I had the dreadful shame of feeling like a freak, or at best a misfit. These were really hard feelings to live with, and in retrospect, I wasn’t really living with them very well.

Do other people put you down and humiliate you because you’re overweight? Believe me, I understand how it feels. Do you put yourself down, shaming yourself for the problem? I understand that, too. Right now, just between us and with God, let that shame go. Let it flow onto the page, and let it out. Then, if you like, if it helps, have a good cry about it, and ask God for help to begin your life anew.

–Norris Chumley