All I have to offer in terms of insight is my own personal experience, and in my personal experience, I had to not only explore but completely uproot, overturn, and rebuild my life from the ground up in order to make it possible for me to live life free from the ED behaviors.

For me, recovery has never been about eradicating all traces of the ED – I do not believe that is possible, at least in my particular case. For me, recovery has always been about re-establishing priorities where the ED is no longer in a high enough place to justify any of my time and attention.

To achieve my recovery, I had to be willing to look at all the stories I had ever bought into or told myself about why I believed the ED would help me get what I wanted and craved out of life. I had to also be willing to look at what in me had created a fear of my own body, and why I was trying to alter its appearance, shape and size in order to protect myself.

I had to look at the effect of biology and culture in the development of my eating disorder, in the process decoding my own dna, my family history, and the advertising messages that had led a younger, unwitting me down the road to anorexia and bulimia.

And I had to look at the hard choice ahead of me – that I couldn’t have both my eating disorder and the rest of my life too. I had to face that grief head-on, feel the depths of despair at losing the ability to return to my eating disorder in tough times, and then get on with the business of practicing new, healthier coping skills for life’s inevitable twists and turns.

It is my firm belief that, without a thorough investigation of not just the walls and ceilings but the floors and basement of what initially triggered the disorder, that no real healing and transformation can occur. Without this courageous exploration and the rigorous honesty it requires, relapse is always just a bad day away. Hope it helps –

Shannon

Do you have a related question you would like to submit for future editions of Good News?

Would you like to send a message of encouragement and support to the person who asked this question? (NOTE: all messages of support will be received and published anonymously in future editions of Good News)

If you would like to submit a question or send a message of support please send it to Shannon c/o Good News HERE