One time, freshman year of college, I was eating by myself in the cafeteria, except I wasn’t eating. I was sitting there with my bowl of pasta, trying to eat one noodle at a time, but my body wouldn’t let me. Sometimes if I’m too sad or anxious, my body won’t let me eat, and it was particularly bad that day, and that year in general. I just physically can’t swallow the food, and I try to distract myself to trick my body into doing it, but sometimes it just doesn’t work. This is really hard for me, because I absolutely love food more than anything.
I gave up, and went and threw away the entire meal, after eating maybe half of a noodle. That was when some guy came up to me, introduced himself, and asked me why I didn’t eat my food. I couldn’t really explain myself to this stranger, so I just said that I wasn’t hungry. He expressed his concern, probably assuming I was lying, and said that he wanted to make sure that I was okay. He didn’t press further when I lied again and said I was, but he told me that if I ever needed to talk that I could talk to him, and let me go.
I never did talk to him again, but that moment did resonate with me. I really appreciated that someone noticed that something was wrong, in a complete stranger, and decided to express their concern and offer some consolation. I understand that not everyone would feel that way about this situation, but I did. It’s good to know that someone noticed and cared that something was wrong, so I still think about this sometimes when I’m having trouble eating.
Sometimes, it even helps me swallow my food.