Netflix is a platform that many of us use and where we all have our fun shows that we will binge on endlessly at times, sometimes even watching throughout the day until the season is over. There are numerous things that they release and feature on their platform that are incredible; series like Thirteen Reasons Why, and their newest unreleased series, To The Bone. Many of the things they release, like comedies, movies, documentaries, and even fiction series, are realities to some individuals.

To The Bone, which is scheduled to premiere on July 14th, is bringing to fruition the realities of some individuals lives with eating disorders. Netflix explains the series like this;

"An anorexic goes on a sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing journey of self-discovery after entering a group home run by an unconventional doctor."

Although this may seem strange or insensitive to some, as someone who has personally struggled along a path to recovery from an eating disorder, it is important to know that this is the reality for many people in today's world. The idea of calorie counting, restricting, excessively exercising, and many more self detrimental behaviors is all absolutely true for those who struggle with eating disorders. But it is not limited to just anorexia. Eating disorders come in all different forms; no one person's struggle is the same as another. We are all unique in our own ways, and like any mental or physical illness, we are all affected in our own way.

It is important to know that there are many people who struggle around you that you may not know. Many individuals struggle in silence, while fighting the voice in their heads before making the choice whether to ingest their next meal. It is something that is masked by those who struggle, and it may not be seen until a physical or mental problem comes to light.

In today's world, we have the drive to be healthy. Many of us may believe that healthy means skinny, and nothing but that, plain and simple. We see men and women on magazines, in the media, or in the shows we watch that shape our belief in what we are supposed to look like. When many of these individuals wish they looked liked their photoshopped self. Escaping the reality of media, well, is almost impossible when it is slammed in our faces on a multitude of different social media platforms.

An important thing to know, is that individuals with eating disorders push themselves so far that it can be deadly and life threatening. Your body can only take so much punishment before it starts to shutdown. Leaving loved ones behind, or having to go to doctors visits every two weeks is not what the drive to be healthy results in.

Healthy is healthy, and the world needs to make that known.

We all have just one body, each different then the next person's, and nobody will ever live in a body just like yours, so treat it right and with love.

Your heart hasn't failed you yet, so you shouldn't fail it either.

Netflix, I applaud you for making mental illnesses known and for putting them out for the world to see. Even if the series is fiction, many of the issues that are seen are very real.