An anonymous reader left the following message on a
recent blog post:
She wrote the following:
"Hi! My name is
Morag. I am a fifteen year old girl trying to recover from anorexia.I just discovered your blog.I am scared of dying. I
am scared of ruining my relationships. But I'm scared of eating more. I keep
saying "this is it, this is the breaking point where I get better"
only to go back to panicking about calories the next day. If you have any
inspiration for me, please PLEASE share. Thanks..."
I left her the following message after her comment:
Dear Anonymous,
I'm afraid everything I say will sound trite:
you're young, you have your whole life ahead of you, you can defeat this
because you most likely have not had anorexia for a long time (meaning it has
not become chronic, as it is in my case since I'm entering my six year of
treatment.)
All of these things might be true, but I'm betting
that the eating disorder voice can trash each one and turn it around to make
you feel hopeless.
Do you have a therapist? A dietitian? A eating
disorders psychiatrist? It's hard to know what to say when I have so little to
go on, and also do not know your living situation, i.e. does it contribute to
your eating disorder or is your family supportive? Have you looked into ED recovery
groups? I know that these groups are limited and it depends upon where you
live.
Just know that you can recover, many people do. It
takes hard work and understanding that it won't happen overnight. Realize you
will sometimes slide back; this happens in recovery.
Finally, you have to WANT to recover. I know that
might sound strange and not very helpful, but it's the truth. You have to want
to recover, and you have to be willing to give up the anorexia identity and
discover who you are and the things you can do.
Please feel free to e-mail me at
angelaelackey@gmail.com if you have any questions, etc. I might be off the grid
for about a week or so, so don't worry if I don't answer right away; I will
answer.
I will keep you in my prayers.
However, I was hoping perhaps some of you might
have inspiration, too? If so, please share in the comments.Maybe we can stop
one more young person from being sucked into anorexia for life. Maybe we might
save her a lot of pain and heartache. I hope so.
Thank you.
