You Are the Constant in Eating Disorder Recovery

In life, and in your eating disorder recovery, you are the constant. Let’s be honest, when we have an eating disorder, recovery feels like the most daunting path we face. There are reasons the eating disorder started; therefore, recovery is a process of exploring little black holes, and learning the skill sets we missed. Recovery can feel as though it depends on so many external things. Will we get into a good recovery program? Will it be covered by health insurance? Will we find a therapist who helps us move forward? Recovery can feel as though it’s based on a slew of external decisions, and we’re simply a bystander. However, the reality is that we are the constant in eating disorder recovery We are the most important factor.

The Variables and Constant in Eating Disorder Recovery

External Variables of Eating Disorder Recovery

Eating disorder recovery is comprised of many variables. There are factors like insurance, or finding a good program, therapist, or nutritionist. There are family dynamics present, especially if you’re a teen or still live in the same home as your family. There are considerations like jobs, school, and friends (Eating Disorder Recovery: Getting Better and Losing Friends).

Internal Variables of Eating Disorder Recovery

Added onto the external factors are the important internal factors. First, we must admit that we need help and seek out and accept that help. Even if we’ve made that step to want to be healthy, the disorder has a way of making us second guess every healthy decision. It will tell us that we can’t recover, that it will never leave us, that we’re not strong enough or good enough, or that we will always struggle. It whispers lies that we will never be free (Why We Believe Eating Disorder Lies). The internal factors are the most important because we need to be on board with our own recovery.

The Freedom Variable of Eating Disorder Recovery

Here’s the freeing part. We don’t have to be on board one 100 percent of the time. We don’t even have to start out believing that we can recover. When I went into inpatient treatment years ago, I didn’t believe that I could actually recover, but I did want to. I wanted to, I just didn’t know how.

One of the most powerful things we can do for our recovery is to simply hold the vision of possibility. Even if we have no idea how to get to that place of recovery, we can believe that it is out there and that maybe one day we will be there.

But You Are the Constant in Eating Disorder Recovery

The truth that I’ve come to know is that we are the constant in our eating disorder recovery journey. Yes, programs, inpatient treatment, therapy, family, friends, and support make a huge difference in the process, but at the end of the day, we are the ones who keep putting one foot in front of the other. At the end of the day, we are the ones that are responsible for our forward locomotion. Recovery is work, and sometimes that work doesn’t feel good. Sometimes it’s scary. But we are the constant.

We get to wake up every day and choose to face the things that stand between us, and the freedom we desire for our lives. We get to feel all the feelings (Eating Disorder Recovery: Dealing With The Emotions). We get to grow. We get to recover in the time it takes us to recover. We get so many choices. Because recovery is about the life that we want to have after our eating disorder is gone. Eating disorder recovery is up to us because we are the constant in our own lives.

Keep moving forward towards eating disorder recovery, health, and freedom.

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