In learning to recognise my needs and have them met, I’ve also learnt more about emotions and their role in my life. A decade ago, when I was about 40 years old, a four-year-old asked why I was so fat. It was one of those moments when something shifted. If...
My eating disorder (ED) stipulated that isolating myself was essential for survival. I had no capacity left in my mind or body to function as me. Until I could master self-compassion and self-care, any progress would be skin deep. To trust myself and become part of my treatment team required connection with...
There is no wrong time to begin recovery from an eating disorder but embarking on that journey during a global pandemic was not ideal. My appointments with a physician’s assistant had to occur in person, but therapist and dietician sessions were held remotely. Thankfully these video visits didn’t hamper recovery and I...
As human beings and social creatures, relationships are an integral part of a healthy, happy life. For most of us, our first relationships are with our parents and siblings and gradually that circle expands to include friends, classmates, teachers, and so on. Some people have many relationships and others may...
A podcast with eating disorder therapist Karin Lewis tells of how a love of writing and family helped me to forge a life of my own, beyond a 44-year battle with anorexia nervosa. As background to the podcast interview, Karin invited me to address the following questions: Recovery questions Do you believe recovery...
By Regina Meyer When I decided to pitch my first memoir to potential agents or publishing houses in Australia, one of the most persistent questions that came up was: WHY? Why precisely was I compelled to write my story and why did I wish to share it with an audience? Why is...
By Dannielle “Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder” – Henry David Thoreau I feel this quote encapsulates my eating disorder as I...
The following story by Karyn Rose Braveheart is the third in a series of Dear Diary posts focusing on relationships and partnerships to commemorate World Eating Disorder Day, June 2, 2017 #WeDoActTogether. Relationships can either tear you apart or turn you into something awesome. They are all based around trust. Healthy relationship...
“ED had swept me into a meaningless void. I lost touch with ‘me’ completely, and also with my husband George…. In my mid-30s, ED convinced me that my husband was the cause of my inability to feel at peace. Once this thought took hold, our marriage was destroyed in...
I was thirty-two, suicidal, and trapped in a self-destruction spiral when I met the psychiatrist who would save my life. I had developed anorexia nervosa at age eleven and the illness was embedded in my brain. ‘Prof’, as I called him, won my trust, saved my life. My therapy had...
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