On my way back from Salt Lake City with Hazel recently, we boarded the return flight, as usual.

After we were seated, a well-dressed, beautiful lady plopped down next to us.

“Hi!” I greeted, since we’d be sitting next to each other for the whole flight.

“Hey,” she mumbled.

“This is Hazel,” I said, gesturing to her.

“Hazel?” she repeated, rolling her eyes. “You don’t look like a HAZEL.”

“Hazel is really well-behaved,” I assured her, surprised by her remark. “You won’t have any trouble with her.”

“I couldn’t care less,” she replied dismissively.

(This was a highly unusual reaction. My flight seatmates typically LOVE sitting next to a service dog.)

“I don’t know how you fly without a jacket,” she abruptly remarked. “I get so cold.”

“Well, you have a LOT less body fat than me,” I joked. (She wasn’t impressed. 😂)

Her behavior for the rest of the flight was pretty much the same. She sighed and huffed at everything.

I got the feeling her attitude wasn’t really about me and Hazel. It was about life in general.

It can be hard to stay friendly and respectful when someone’s acting like that, but that’s exactly what I did…because her attitude wasn’t really about me or Hazel. Something else was bothering her.

Something similar applies in your weight loss journey when somebody either doesn’t seem impressed by your weight loss, or they start telling you that you’ve lost enough weight or are “getting too skinny.”

Meaning, even though it SEEMS like it’s about you, it’s really not.

It’s about THEIR filter of the world and what THEY think.

How do I know?

Because a completely different person in that exact situation would react completely differently, just like my other seatmates reacted differently than this lady.

They might congratulate you on your weight loss (instead of ignoring it or telling you to stop when you clearly have more that needs to come off).

Look, it can be really easy to forget that it’s not about you (I forget sometimes, too).

But do your best to remind yourself that it’s not.

It doesn’t mean you have to overcorrect and get cold and callous. You can be kind (like I was to this lady) and also not make it about you. You’ll enjoy a lot more peace in your life when you do!