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Cleanse, Day Something or Other
I have a whole list of demons to write about as I continue to work on purging the last remnants of diet culture out of my life.
(Side note: I am aware that this is a lifetime project — until the larger world sees diet culture for the lie that it is and kicks it out of *all* our lives.)
Today’s demon: The Demon of Being the Smart One
I was just listening to the latest episode of Prentis Hemphill’s podcast, Finding Our Way. Their guest could not remember the word “schadenfreude,” so he described the concept. I kept waiting for Prentis to say, “It’s schadenfreude” or, “The word you’re looking for is schadenfreude.” They never did. They just continued the conversation and stayed engaged with the the moment.
This led me to a very uncomfortable realization — in that same moment, I would have definitely given the guest the word he was looking for. In fact, I wouldn’t have been able to hear anything he said until I gave him the word.
In short, I would have prioritized being the smart one over staying in relationship.
That’s a hard thing to realize about yourself.
What, you may ask, does this have to do with diet culture? Well — diet culture, to me, is a collection of standards and misinformation based on the idea…