Getting engaged is one of the happiest times in any person's life. Your partner asking to marry you and to spend the rest of your lives together is exciting and exhilarating. It's a time for celebration.
Unfortunately for one woman, this joyful occasion was nearly overshadowed when a complete stranger reached out to her after she shared her big news online.
Cassie Young, an on-air host and social media director from Atlanta, Georgia, recently became engaged to her boyfriend of 10 years. Being a public personality, Cassie shared her news across her various social media accounts. That's when a trainer reached out to Cassie via Twitter direct message, offering his services ahead of her wedding. The bride-to-be politely declined, but the pushy stranger would not take no for an answer.
That's when things got a little weird — and a whole lot about body shaming.
"[He] tried to make a fat girl feel unhappy and give her low self-esteem about her wedding day and [he] tried to make money off of it," Cassie told TODAY, "and that's gross."
Scroll through to read Cassie's amazing and empowering response!
Thumbnail Photos: Instagram / Cassie Young
What makes this situation so much more heartbreaking is that Cassie had struggled with her weight and self-image in the past, according to TODAY.
After a long journey, she'd finally reached a place where she was happy, healthy, and comfortable with her body.
Cassie is also an outspoken advocate for body positivity, which is why she decided to share the trainer's aggressively pushy and offensive messages online.
The trainer began his "pitch" to Cassie by congratulating her on her recent engagement, then immediately launched into selling his services. "Hire me to get you in shape for your wedding," he wrote.
Cassie, who doesn't feel that she is out of shape, declined and even thanked him for his offer. But the unnamed trainer was insistent.
"If you don't hire me, hire someone. Those pictures last centuries. Your children's children's children will still have those pictures. You want your best you," he replied.
Cassie responded that she knew she would look her best because of her happiness on her big day. She clapped back at the trainer's insinuation that she would (or should) be embarrassed of how she will look in her pictures and at the idea that her descendants will ridicule her over them.
"I plan on living the kind of life that will have people talking about how I lived it to my fullest and my legacy, not about the fact that I have a tummy," she fired back.
But the trainer would just not give up. He simply couldn't fathom that Cassie would be happy with her figure, even suggesting that she was lying to herself and that other people with larger bodies are also lying to themselves about their self-love.
Obviously, his words were offensive and cruel, but Cassie handled herself flawlessly.
"I'm sad for you that your self-worth is wrapped up in your appearance," she replied. "When you're wrapped up in what other people think of you, it can be so hard to be happy with your body because of people consistently commenting on it or trying to convince you that it's bad."
When the trainer continued to try to make her feel bad after pointing out Cassie often posts online about "bad food" she's eating, she finally shut down the conversation.
"Get some morals," she wrote.
Cassie posted her story on both Instagram and Facebook, alongside screenshots of her conversation with the trainer. Her tale has since gone viral, along with the larger message that Cassie wants people to take away from her situation.
She writes:
This guy reached out to me on Twitter with a pitch (which I have no problem with), but then it spiraled into something else.
I’m posting this because I want every woman and man to know that it does not MATTER what you look like. (I'm blue. He's gray.)
You are worthy. Love is out there for you. Life is waiting with open arms. It doesn’t matter if you’re skinny or fat or between the two or willowy or broad shouldered or peer [sic] shaped or like a board or anything in between. You get good stuff in life by being YOU. That's what matters.
If you think of life as a “game” with being skinny as how you “win,” this guy is offering to play by the rules and get you there. I’m telling you the game is BOGUS. You don’t need the game. I reject the game. I REFUSE TO PLAY. It’s a fake construct that you can step outside of.
Your inner-value and self-worth comes from YOU, not what you look like. Who gives a f**k if you got a few extra pounds. Or ten. Or twenty. Thirty. Whatever. If you are happy and healthy, that’s ALL that matters. Those pounds DO NOT DEFINE YOU OR YOUR WORTH. Don’t let people like this try to convince you otherwise, because they’ll try – but it’s because they don’t understand yet. They’re caught up in the game and can’t see it for what it is. You can.
Life is waiting for you. It's too short to be spent worrying about a belly roll. Go be happy and live it to your fullest.
What do you think of Cassie's response to the trainer?
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