I’ve had a few conversations lately about eating disorder recovery and the work that I do that have inspired quite a bit of material for my blogs. So, thank you to the people who sparked these conversations.
I think it’s always better when I can write about things that people think and feel out there in the world vs my single experience of living with, recovering from and living beyond an eating disorder.
My story is not everyone’s story.
One such conversation was initiated with the desperate question thinly veiled with hope of a parent of a young client I work with “I guess eating more of anything is good, isn’t it?”
It’s a question or a statement I hear often in different forms from parents or partners of people living with eating disorders. This sense that if they’re eating, they’re ok.
To the expectant and fearful look, I think “no, not always”.
Why Eating Doesn’t = Recovery
I remember when I was sick with anorexia, people constantly commented on how much I ate.
I constantly felt like I was eating a lot.
Too much.
I felt like all I was ever doing was eating.
And in many respects, it was true.
Eating became such a big part of my life and it was such a phenomenal struggle that of course it felt like a big proportion of the pie chart of my life was devoted to time spent eating and time thinking about food.
What I wish people knew is that recovery is not about just eating more.
Eating will get you far and by no means do I want to discredit this because there is no avoiding the fact that in order to recover from an eating disorder you need to eat but eating alone will only ever get you so far.
Full recovery is about doing the work.
And the real work is mental.
What Is “Doing the Work”?
Recovery is about more than the way your body looks.
Recovery is about more than the behaviours.
Recovery is about letting go of old beliefs and building new empowering ones in their place.
Recovery is about becoming the person who lives easily without the eating disorder.
This is the real work because it doesn’t matter how much physical healing you do, if you don’t do the mental work, it’s only ever going to be a temporary patch up job.
The Choice
The answer to the puzzle is eat AND do the work.
If you’re lost as to what “do the work” means specifically for you, because I sure knew I had to “do the work” to recover, most of the time I didn’t really know what on earth that work was but even when I knew what it was I didn’t know how… please feel welcome to get in contact with me and we can assess if we are a good fit for working together to assist you in the recovery chapter of your story.
Most of all “doing the work” is about DOING the work. Not reading about the work, not thinking about the work, not planning to do the work but doing.
Above all else recovery takes doing.
With my whole heart I hope you found this information useful and inspiring.
Become Great. Live Great.
Bonnie.
