Size matters

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I am overweight. I'm getting smaller (yay), but I'm still quite large and I have been most of my life. As such, I'm keenly aware of how much space I take up when traveling. I carry most of my bulk forward and back, so I don't really overflow the seat on a plane or bus. Yet I remain quite conscious of my size and often shift slightly away from the person next to me. We all know the horror stories of travelers being forced to sit next to the fat person on a crowded plane, after all. I don't want to be that fat person.

What I noticed on my flight to Manchester from Atlanta is that trim people seem to have the exact opposite approach to travel. On the plane, I was seated next to a very slim middle-aged woman. Not only did she use up the entire seat arm between us (Why don't people understand they get only half of a shared arm?), but her elbows extended well into my chair and embedded in my side. She didn't seem to notice as she happily played Candy Crush on her iPad. More than likely she just assumed I was flowing into her space, and she was just grinning and bearing it.

On the crowded bus yesterday I had to sit next to a gentleman. Again I was uber conscious of my space and parked myself a good couple of inches away from him so we didn't touch at all. Unfortunately this left me perched a bit over the lip of my seat on the opposite side so every time the bus cornered or swayed, I had to hang on for dear life. I could have sat in my seat properly, but that would have put me against him because, although he was fairly slim, he consumed his entire side of the seat and his rain coat pushed him over to my side. So I just hung on.

It was all rather silly really. I have just as much right to my seat space as anyone else. I shouldn't have had someone else's elbow nestled into my side. I didn't need to hang on for dear life on a bus because I couldn't get my butt centered in my seat. I could have said something. I could have just taken my rightful space. I am an intelligent, rational (mostly) woman fully capable of standing up for herself. And yet, I remained mum and inconvenienced. All because something in the back of my head kept insisting that I was fat and therefore responsible for the situation. That is so pathetic, yet I know full well I won't change.

Is that society or just me? Makes me wonder.

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