A Dubai-based Pakistani TV reporter, who has been bullied most of her life for being a plus-sized woman, decided to educate others on self-love and body positivity.
Born and raised in Dubai, Arfa Shahid is a 28-year-old freelance journalist turned model who was recently invited to an inspirational talk show in Dubai expressed her mission to teach people the meaning of self-acceptance and self-love after suffering from depression for seven years due to her weight.
“Self-love to me is being the best version of yourself,” she said by adding, “It’s being kind to yourself and being self-aware. It’s an ongoing journey and a choice you make every single day.”
She coaches and motivates people on self-love through her Instagram account. “This is where I first started my journey and where I teach people to apply the principles of self-love and value themselves to reach their goals and be the best person themselves,” she added.
Sharing one of her childhood incidents, Shahid said that she was always a chubby kid and soon from being called a cute kid, the comments started becoming mean. I was still four or five when women in parties started shaming my mother, asking why she overfed me,” she shared.
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“I remember an Eid when I was just five,” she continued. “All women at a party were only discussing my weight, and I locked myself up in a bathroom and cried my eyes out the entire day.” Shahid also recounted incidents in school where teachers body-shamed her. “Incidents like these really impacted me,” she said. “I felt people were unkind, and I also started being unkind to myself.”
Such incidents also impacted her mental health and resulted in depression, but she ultimately promised to fight the victim mindset. Shahid has interviewed Pakistani celebrities such as Hareem Farooq, Hira Mani, and Mohib Mirza and asked them to share their self-love journeys and discussed body positivity issues.
