Hey, how are you doing?

I ask as a pleasantry, knowing you won't answer, knowing you will avoid the question and turn it around, knowing you will lie with "I'm fine", or perhaps attempt to respond with a "just a little tired" to convince yourself that are you are just a little tired. Tired of fighting, tired of trying, tired of living.

And it is okay to feel that way. It is okay to struggle and have moments of trouble. It is okay to not feel good enough for the world, or recovery. It is okay. But what is not okay is giving up, and letting your disorder win.

Your eating disorder will do everything in its power to keep a grasp on you. It will lie and capitalize on each insecurity, convincing you that you do not deserve to get better and that recovering is far too hard - after all, it wants to steal your life away. But much like any other parasite, it does not get to win.

I went to a couple different support groups, and asked the question "what keeps you motivated to keep fighting? What motivates you to continue recovery?" and the responses were exciting. Below are 18 things that your fellow recovery warriors remind themselves when recovery no longer seems to be the only option...

Maegan: "I got permission to want to be healthy even though ED doesn't want me to be healthy"

Katie: "My worst days in recovery will always be better than my best day in my eating disorder."

Arlyn: "An urge is just a thought."

Elizabeth: "Those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter."

Christina: "Recovery sucks and it's a fight every day, but life with an ED isn't a life; it's a long, slow, painful death."

Di: "Every act of self-care is a powerful declaration: I am more and more on my own side - Susan Weiss Berry"

Megan: "Recovery is my only option. I'm going to have to do it sooner or later if I want to live, so why delay it?"

Ariane: "I separate ED from my identity. That way, I'm not the illness and I can use rationality to analyze my distorted thoughts and behaviors. I like to use this very short and simple trick: whenever I tell myself things like "you've eaten too much", "you're bloated", "you were prettier underweight", etc. I add these words: SO WHAT?!..."

Elizabeth: "I was told by a woman I had just met, painting my nails, that, "It's okay to eat". Only time anyone had said that to me and I have never forgotten. "

Kerry: "The best part of recovery is that you can always start over anytime. And succeed..."

Kelli: "You are good enough the way you are right at this moment.That I survived, that I am a warrior and I will always rise!!"

Blaire: "I'm a mom of a little girl and one on the way. I try to hide how I feel about my weight cause I don't want them to feel bad about themselves. So they are my inspiration."

a-fairy-named-eleri: "she is clothed in strength and dignity and she walks without fear of the future. [-Proverbs 31:25]

I also just remind myself of the things I’m fighting for. 'for my family, for my future husband” etc etc. this helps me more than mottos or sayings"

bluebellbrooke: "my new favorite is "How does one beat the cold? By becoming colder" just because it motivates me to be a Badder Bitch than my ED and reminds me that [I'm] in this fight to win it"

findingneve: "you can do this and even if you can’t, you have to.

if I've had a bad day - the sun will rise and we will try again.

You can’t fall if you don’t climb but there’s no joy in spending your life on the ground"

jordbeingbrave: "you can have the (sick/thin/ideal) body or your life. but you cannot have both.

You are alive, and being alive demands that you show up, even when you don’t want to. - comemorningslight

I clawed my way up from the bottom. And everyday I must remember that this is my one life. There won’t be a do-over in which I get back lost years. This is it. If I spend it in surrender, or in anger, or in self-hatred, there will nothing left to do but wish it could have been different. And I want more than that. - comemorningslight

You do not need to use your body to show your pain” lindsaythebrave

I only get one life and I REFUSE to waste it obsessing over my size/weight/calories/exercise. I refuse to waste my life."

Know that you can have a life beyond your disorder. Remember to fight, because you have some serious ass to kick.