Readers will be aware that I follow Tim Ferriss’ work. He often talks about Amelia Boone, whom he interviewed and admires tremendously. She has a corporate attorney job for a small company called Google (funny coincidence that I disparaged them in yesterday’s post), but in her spare time she is a phenomenal athlete. Her main sport is obstacle racing, and she won the World’s Toughest Mudder competition (a 24 hour race), along with others, many times.

Some time ago, I started following Amelia on Instagram because I was curious to hear more about her athletic pursuits.

But I found something more than an inspiring athlete. She has recently started talking about an eating disorder that she says she has suffered from for over 20 years. I won’t tell her story for her, but I think she is doing something really important by speaking out. You can find out more from her, and might start with this very recent post.

What I will provide by way of commentary is how important it is to recognize that people struggle with things we don’t see from the outside, and body image and food relationships are able to creep into every life. I struggle with body image as an overweight person, but I have been close friends to many wonderful, beautiful, maybe too-skinny women, who are also phenomenal athletes, but who hate their bodies. Disorders also take many forms. Amelia ate lots of junk food, and those close to her probably didn’t recognized her tormented relationship with body and food.

Awareness is a good first step.

Loving ourselves and our bodies at any stage is another important, if difficult step.