Recovery is a mixture of very high ‘highs’ and lows. It’s a mixture of victories and days when the thoughts all relapse into that old way of thinking.
I can say honestly that it’s not been an easy journey, and especially with some hard things that happened in the last year, I really struggled again with getting my period (I was able to get it for 4-5 months last year consecutively), but I am just thanking the Lord again for another 4 months (almost consecutive) this year that I was able to get it, and that, for me, has been a huge indication of where my body is in recovery.
But there are not just physical elements to recovery; there is a whole myriad of mental and emotional parts of recovery that I wanted to cover on today’s podcast.
– Anxiety over digestive issues that only cropped up especially after I started re feeding/nourishing my body
– Anxiety over travel and how my body will handle that travel
– Emotionally accepting my body as it is now without still wanting to change little parts of it
– Fighting the days of intense mental relapse and remembering how far God has brought me
– Mentally disciplining myself not to compare my body to other girls or my eating habits to other girls
– Not allowing the comparison game (when it comes to the kind of foods I eat) get to me on Instagram
– Filtering your social media through a lens of wisdom, compassion, and edification
– Why I don’t follow very many people on social media (there are SOOO many amazing accounts on Instagram, but because of my history with food I can’t follow many of them)
– Learning your limits and boundaries in recovery
– When to push past the limits in recovery (to step out into a conversation with diet talk and learning what to say)
– Standing up for your recovery and gently explaining your struggles to those who might not understand
These are just a few of the mental/emotional parts that have come with recovery. All of them have been good, hard, and sometimes, rather complicated to navigate through; especially coming into diet talk conversations.
But . . . if you’re reading this and you’re still in the midst of recovery and you’ve come on those diet talk conversations I want to share some tips:
#1) Remember WHY you are pursuing recovery and why life is so much more than food.
#2) PRAY. Ask the Lord to keep you strong and keep your eyes focused on Him and nourishing your body for His glory.
#3) You can walk out of the conversation. It’s okay to walk out and leave with grace if you need to protect your recovery.
#4) If you see ‘diet ads’ or ‘diet Pins’ on Pinterest or Instagram, you can hide the ad and just say, ‘It’s not relevant’ to me. (That has helped me SO MUCH!)
(Thank you to my sister for these sweet pics)
And go cuddle a kitten or your dog. They have no judgment around food, and I think sometimes God just uses them to remind me that they aren’t sitting there worrying about whether they will eat or what they’ll eat, whether it has too many calories or carbs; they just eat.
And how much more should I trust God, my Heavenly Daddy, Who made all the food and Who can nourish my body with all of the different kinds of foods that are in our refrigerator and cupboard?
So I want to challenge you to go find JOY in that:
Yogurt
Box of your Favorite Cereal
Ritz Crackers and Cheese Slices
A Big bowl o’ ice cream and toppings
Hamburger
Hot Dog
(Fill in the blank _____)
When thoughts of an eating disorder sound easier, I want to encourage you to go back to this passage that gave me SOOO much JOY in the Lord and His great salvation.
Isaiah 35:1-6, ‘The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.’
So GO LEAPPPP.
Leap into that bowl of food and say, ‘NO’ to relapse with me.
Have you struggled with thoughts of wanting to relapse in recovery? What kept you back?
