I recently read a book titled “Getting Grit” by Caroline Adams Miller. The main focus of the book is about how having perseverance and the patience to pursue long-term goals is one of the main ways to reach a feeling of success and overall satisfaction. This book was interesting to me personally because the author talks about her struggles with bulimia as a young adult and how she was so focused on achieving this ideal of thinness she had in her head, that everything else in her life fell on the back burner.

I believe that eating disorders thrive off of stubbornness. Sometimes, there is a life event that a person goes through that triggers the eating disorder. Sometimes it comes from a genuine place of wanting to be healthier that ends up backfiring and becoming an obsession. Sometimes, it comes from the people around us having disordered habits and making unnecessary comments. No matter where it stems from, I think there is an element of not wanting to seem weak or “give in” to food.

Another point that Miller made in the book that stood out to me was how we, as humans, are so programmed to want instantaneous results. People don’t want to work as hard for what they have anymore. It is scary to try and fail and that is why we stay in our comfort zones instead of pursuing what we really want for ourselves. I think that is why recovery is a multi-step process that involves many setbacks and requires patience. We want to instantly be better but you have to put in that hard work in order to see the benefits of recovery.

To fall into the trap of an eating disorder, you usually have a stubborn need to achieve the goal of being thin, healthy, whatever. Rewiring the brain and using that grit and perseverance in a healthier way is something that takes a lot of difficult work on yourself but it is so worth it.