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Life Stories Diary offers a safe and supportive environment in which to share your story. Sharing your story can help you to develop a sense of belonging and connectedness with self and others. Stories that provide a message of hope in coping with life challenges are especially welcome. Share your story today.

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advocacy Imagine a Global Board for eating disorders

Imagine a Global Board for eating disorders

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Imagine a Global Board that listens to “everyone” in the eating disorder field. What a difference it could make to lives everywhere! The vision for a Global Board comes from the indefatigable Elissa Myers, former chief staff executive of the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED). Under Elissa’s proposed model, a...

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Life Stories Diary Reunion with a cherished pet

Reunion with a cherished pet

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I had a lovely surprise mid-morning. I unexpectedly heard a knock at my front door, and when I went to answer the knock, I was momentarily nonplussed. A bearded tradie in shorts, boots, shirt and hat was standing there. Then he spoke, and recognition flooded in – it was Darren,...

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advocacy When compliments are kryptonite

When compliments are kryptonite

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Kryptonite: something that can seriously weaken or harm a particular person or thing. * Compliments are generally seen as a good thing. Everyone likes to be complimented on appearance, intelligence, and accomplishments, to name a few. A sincere compliment can brighten a day that might otherwise feel dark and gloomy....

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advocacy When a private diary collection becomes public

When a private diary collection becomes public

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I am surrounded by 10 family members inside the National Library of Australia, Canberra. We are in a private reading room to visit my diary ‘family’, the early years of which are spread before us on a long table. Emotions bubble within—I feel exposed, unclothed, with my mind, heart, and...

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advocacy When first impressions are false

When first impressions are false

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I don’t remember at what age I discovered Impressionism, an art movement in the 19th Century. Van Gogh, Monet and Degas, among others, created works of art that differed significantly from the painting style of their time. I was drawn to Impressionism the moment I saw it and have loved...

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advocacy Gifts of human kindness on a Christmas Day train ride

Gifts of human kindness on a Christmas Day train ride

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I travelled by train instead of car on Christmas Day 2024. Instead of the usual two-and-a-half hour drive to the home of my children’s dad, George, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, I took the country train. On Christmas Eve, in a burst of planning, my Melbourne-based daughter and her family collected...

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advocacy Bringing together Korea’s eating disorder researchers

Bringing together Korea’s eating disorder researchers

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As the sole host of Korea’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW), I am researching the themes and issues to be covered in the seven sessions of our third event in February 2025. To fully understand and engage with these topics, I immerse myself deeply, processing them, formulating insightful questions to...

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advocacy When mother has an eating disorder

When mother has an eating disorder

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I reached for the phone. I was ready to accept the guidance of my minister and psychiatrist so I could become a person with normal behavioural habits. ‘I will go to the mental health hospital this Sunday,’ I vowed. ‘If I don’t go I will defer my recovery. I want...

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advocacy Tug of war with an eating disorder

Tug of war with an eating disorder

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Family Based Treatment is the best, evidence-based approach for most children and adolescents to get their life back on track when they develop an eating disorder – particularly anorexia nervosa. But what about those of us whose eating disorders developed before Family Based Treatment (FBT) became an option? Or those...

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advocacy Being a loser at weight loss makes you a winner – or does it?

Being a loser at weight loss makes you a winner – or does it?

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Nobody likes being told, “You’re a loser.” The word “loser” immediately conjures up feelings of inadequacy, failure, and shame. The only place I can think of where “a loser” is considered noble and revered is in diet culture and the weight loss industry, where “loss” is even in the name....

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