People that struggle with eating disorders often have “black and white” or “all or nothing” type thinking. This can make approaching recovery especially difficult. We often think that one day it will just click. We will choose recovery and never look back. But eating disorder are much more complex than this. You must take small steps to add up to large efforts that make up your recovery.
In honor of today, Independence Day, I am going to share a few small steps you can take to get independence from your eating disorder.
TELL ON YOURSELF (OR YOUR ED THOUGHTS):
Tell someone the thoughts you are having to act on a behavior. This accountability will make it easier to separate your ED thoughts and your healthy thoughts.
You can tell someone from your treatment team, your family or even a close friend with or without an eating disorders.
The act of telling someone your thoughts (even though it may feel weird at first) will give them less power. This will make you easier to fight them.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
CHALLENGE YOURSELF WITH A FEAR FOOD:
Choose a food that you are scared to eat or usually struggle with eating.
Don’t be afraid to start with something on the less scary side of the spectrum.
Give yourself some extra support by telling a treatment team member, family member or friend about your challenge. You can even have them join you if you are comfortable with that.
TEST THE AFFIRMATION WATERS
I’ll admit the first time I heard about affirmations and how they were used for recovery I wasn’t convinced they were helpful. I remember thinking they were silly and pointless. But they really do help if you are willing to try!
Try picking an affirmation for each month of the year. This gives you a month to “get used” to whatever your affirmation is. I found this helpful in my recovery because I wasn’t thinking of a million affirmations at once.
Write the affirmation down on your calendar or even a note on your phone. Somewhere where you will see it each day and be reminded to reflect on it.
Don’t worry if it feels forced or even fake at first. This is normal and is a result of many years of negative self talk.
Like I said before, these steps are small and won’t happen overnight. But they certainly do help in taking steps towards freedom from your eating disorder. I encourage you to try one (or all) of these and be patient with yourself. Please share in the comments any small steps that you take to get freedom from your ED or how your experience was with one of the ones I mentioned above.
With Love,
The ED Recovery Project