Recovery in these Challenging Times

In the midst of the pandemic, the protests and the violence, everyone is reeling as they try to figure out how to manage. Most people are overwhelmed with their own emotions while also making sense of how to respond to the randomness of nature, the destruction wrought by humanity and the injustice and inequality around us.

How can someone caught in their own recovery from an eating disorder stay present for what is happening in the world and not lose sight of their own personal health?

It’s too easy to say this is not the time to fight for recovery. Instead just focus on surviving now and deal with the eating disorder later.

The problem is that eating disorders don’t stay stagnant while someone deals with the state of our world. It digs in deeper, becomes more powerful and sinks that person further into illness.

The only other choice is to both face the reality in front of all of us and stay present in recovery. Doing both things means staying true to who you are. Each of us needs to manage our own personal lives and find our own way to look at the current events unfolding around us.

It is crucial not to let these events distract from the goal of eating disorder recovery. Food logs, meal plans and journals to log emotions and personal responses remain as important as ever. These cornerstones of recovery serve as the way to stay connected with yourself and not pretend the eating disorder is the true core of one’s identity.

Continuing to attend all appointments for recovery provides opportunities to clarify thoughts and feelings and decrease the likelihood of leaning on eating disorder behaviors to cope.

Last, the more one uses the eating disorder to manage, the less true one’s voice becomes in the world right now. Thoughts and feelings need to stem from each of our own true and genuine selves and need to reflect the most honest place we can find in ourselves to see our world when it faces such an important crisis. The eating disorder will only cloud the truth behind the inanity of obsessing about food and weight.

Now is the time to focus on connecting with ourselves, our community and the people around us, not with a destructive illness.