Every time I saw my dad’s weary face, I had the aching desire to be the one battling against the disease, to be the one suffering in his place. Every day, I was overwhelmed with bitter defeat knowing for a fact that his health was deteriorating with every minute that passed. To counter my feelings of despair and to compensate for the times when all I could do was helplessly watch my dad struggle, I decided to study medicine and devote my life to helping others.
Having been a student who didn’t have proper work ethics during the first two years of high school, I was often sneered at when I told my peers about pursuing a career path in medicine. And because this belittling encouraged me to validate myself, I was determined to excel at school. As a result, I willingly skipped meals, cancelled hangouts and even disregarded my own family so that I could meet the demanding academic standards. At school, my teachers praised me for my newly developed work ethic and my peers complimented me throughout my weight-loss process. Although I had a set goal for my weight-loss journey, the persistent compliments from people around me encourage me to consistently lower my target weight. Similarly, because my perfect GPA suddenly made me more noticed at school, I was determined to maintain my scores throughout my academic career. In a sense, these compliments I received added more pressure into my life because I developed a fear of not meeting the new set of expectations I kept imposing on myself.
Coping with Food 