Dear Those in Eating Disorder Recovery,

First let me just say even if you don’t consider yourself in recovery, you should keep reading.

Where do I start? Well I will say I think you are strong and brave for taking this step. You should be very proud of yourself, because walking away from an eating disorder isn’t easy. In fact, it’s like you are walking away from an abusive relationship. That says something about how much strength you really have. However, I must be honest with you. Recovery will not be an easy road.

I myself thought once I got out of treatment, everything would be easier and I was going to have a great relationship with food again. I was wrong. What I learned is that recovery isn’t perfect. It’s not a straight-line. This picture below shows what recovery is really like.

There will be days where you want to give up and you don’t want to have anything to do with recovery anymore. You will also have days where you feel like you’re on top of the world and you are loving pro-recovery life. Keep in mind you are allowed to struggle and you are also allowed to have a good day.

Recovery requires work and allowing yourself to feel the emotions you are feeling in the present moment. Remember ignoring your emotions of sadness, happiness, anger, and fear? It’s time to start allowing yourself to feel those emotions, because we are human and humans are meant to feel emotions.

On your bad days, you may wonder why you are feeling like crap. Take a step back and figure out why you are feeling that way. If you like writing, journal about your day and don’t leave out details. When you journal you want to be honest, because you may find out why you had a bad day. Even writing about your good days helps.

If you’re an artsy type of a person, art maybe your way of expressing how you feel. You don’t have to be an artist to do art, so if you want to try something new, go get all the art supplies you want and try expressing your emotions through art.

Recovery is about starting a new day everyday and you are going to have a lot of “start overs”. The key is staying present and taking one day at a time. I know that’s easier said than done, but practicing staying present doesn’t hurt. Meditation and yoga has helped many people I know and if you want to give it a try go ahead. You never know what may help you in your recovery. So try new positive and safe coping skills and activities.

Remember recovery can be tough, but it’s worth it. You will have your good and bad days. It’s normal! Keep your head up even when things seem to be going rough. You are beautiful and worth it. Keep swimming.