Disclaimer: This article may be triggering to some readers.
“How are you doing?” is such a complicated question for me to answer. I can’t say I’m doing badly, because I’m not. Physically, my body is healthy and weight restored. I can think more clearly, and I have the tools I need to cope. I’m so happy that I am no longer living a secret life and I have met so many amazing people throughout treatment. But I cannot say that I’m doing well either.
I still despise the way my body looks in clothes or when I accidentally spot myself in the mirror when running from the shower to my bed. I still feel awful when I remember that I have food inside me. I still compare myself to every woman, man, child, doll, dog that I see. I still cry sometimes because the urges to use are taking over my entire being, and sometimes, they win.
I’m restricting, but I’m eating a hell of a lot more in amount and variety than I was before. THIS IS RECOVERY. I’m floating through life (or to me it feels more like walking through we cement) trying to figure out what I’m doing. Am I in recovery? Or am I in relapse? I don’t know. These are some things I’m learning while in this awkward, uncomfortable, and frustrating stage in my recovery.
Recovery is crying into your food. Recovery is forcing yourself to do things that make you uncomfortable. Recovery is trying new things. Recovery is learning who you are without our disorder. Recovery is painful, dreadful and sometimes does not seem worth it. Recovery is life!
I've learned that I can’t have a life until I’m well, but I can’t start to get well until I have a life. I get impatient sometimes. I just want to be “normal” already, but I can’t be normal until I start to move on from the self-destruction. I want to be able to eat drunken pizza on a Friday night without freaking out afterwards, but I will not be able to do that until I stop scrolling through hours of eating disorder blogs.
Recovery is crying into your food. Recovery is forcing yourself to do things that make you uncomfortable. Recovery is trying new things. Recovery is learning who you are without our disorder. Recovery is painful, dreadful and sometimes does not seem worth it. Recovery is life!