Why am I sharing this?

Like I said in my first post, I'm really not a fan of personal blogs.  I have one at work that I have been consistently posting to in order to build "my personal brand" at IBM.  But I haven't really cared about building a personal brand to share with the world.  So again we can ask, why am I doing it now? 

I guess the easy response is because people told me to.  When people find out I had the lap-band surgery done, they were very surprised.  They had no idea I had been considering it and they especially had no idea what it really was.  Half the people think that I no longer have half of my stomach or intestines, the other half think that I had a six hour procedure and was probably in the hospital for days. 

There is so much misconception about lap-band surgery and I admit, I was one of those people this time last year-- no idea what kind of weight loss surgery options were out there, options that were safe, effective and right for me.

Once people understand the surgery and see that I have survived it and am doing great, they then tell me that I need to share my experience.  I said "absolutely not" at first.  This is a sensitive and private matter, one that I have struggled with my entire life.  I also didn't think anyone really would care to read it.  But the more people that told me I should share, the stronger I felt about just writing it out to see what it looked like.  So this past weekend after I visited with friends at a BBQ, I went home and just started to write. 

It. Felt. Great.  To tell my story, the one I have been holding inside for years that only a few people saw glimpses of, I had no idea how badly I needed to share it.

I have since shared this blog with some family and friends and their reactions have been the same.  Friends who I think are the definition of perfect and beautiful and skinny have told me that they feel the EXACT same way as me.  Others have struggled right along with me and have shared that this makes them feel better.  They realize they aren't alone. 

So it's decided.  I will continue to write on this blog for myself.  And if I can comfort someone in the meantime, well that's a bonus.  So that's my reasoning, my objective.  To document and express my feelings, my story, my journey... because I can and it feels good.