Gemma Speck

I think a lot about like the people in, this is so random, but in Biggest Loser who like hate themselves, get on the show, lose the weight, still hate themselves.

Literally just think of the most inspirational person who you admire more than anybody in the

you most admire, hate themselves into becoming who they are?

Do you know anyone whose life genuinely improved over time because they maintained a running commentary of

disgust and humiliation and self-loathing about themselves?

Has it ever made anybody more creative, more open-hearted, more resilient, more talented?

If you can find evidence for it, I would love to know, but I just don't think there is any.

Self-hatred survives partly by pretending, again, to be practical and

And self-serving.

And that's how it persuades us to keep it around.

Because it will keep you humble.

It will keep you polite.

It will keep people liking you.

But you can still be humble and polite and not hate yourself.

It's just called self-awareness.

So challenge it on those same practical grounds.

Self-hatred makes a practical argument.

You need me to be a good person.

You are saying to it, actually, no, I don't.

I don't have any evidence that you've actually helped me.