#WorldMentalHealthDay: Eating Disorder Recovery
From my Instagram (@megansherer): "One thing that always helped me to get some perspective and take a deep breath when it all got too overwhelming was to get outside and connect with nature."
This post is for everyone who has ever been diagnosed with any mental health issue, specifically an eating disorder, or anyone who has struggled with disordered eating/exercising or body image issues in any way and has felt overwhelmed by the journey to recovery. What I want to say to you is this: a full recovery is absolutely, 100% possible.
There is much debate in the eating disorder community about whether someone truly ever recovers, or if they will always struggle with disordered thoughts around eating/body image for the rest of their lives (even if their behaviors become healthier). Well, my firm stance on the issue is that not only is full recovery possible, but it is something that every single person deserves to experience.
You deserve to have freedom around food. You deserve to enjoy an ice cream cone on a hot summer day. You deserve to be able to choose a salad or “healthy” meal because it sounds delicious to you, not because you feel like you have to. You deserve to be free from the cycle of bingeing and restricting. You deserve to eat cake on your birthday without experiencing guilt or shame. And on your wedding day. And on a Tuesday afternoon, just because.
You deserve to have freedom around your body. You deserve to look in the mirror and love what you see. You deserve to wear clothes that make you feel amazing. You deserve to feel strong and empowered and to move your body how you want to, when you want to. You deserve to go a full day without body-checking in every mirror you pass or pinching the parts of yourself you wish you could change.
You deserve all of this and more. And how do I know that this reality is possible? Because I experience it myself, and I have met and worked with many others who have gotten to this place as well. This disorder does not define you. It is providing you with a beautiful opportunity to learn more about yourself and to choose the way you want to show up in the world. It is showing you the parts of yourself that need a little (or a lot) extra love. But it is not going to oppress you for the rest of your life. If you choose to do the work to overcome it. Which I cannot recommend enough that you do…because freedom is on the other side of that work. And after everything you have gone through, you deserve every single bit of that freedom.
With so much love,
Megan