Braces, Headgear, and…Eating Disorders?

 I run an online support community called Behind this Mask: there is someone real for MySpace.com - for those of you with an interest in joining, all you need is a free myspace.com account, and you can visit the Key to Life MySpace page  to send me an add request.

Recently - this morning in fact - one of the group members posted about her recovery, and how hard it is to accept her new body shape and size, post-inpatient treatment. I remember (sans the inpatient treatment, of course) this process all too well. And I will tell you, as I told her, that it took a loonnnnnnnggggg time for me to accept my new body shape and size - and it really wasn’t until just recently that I finally achieved the ability to give my poor battered body the support and love it has always deserved.

To be honest, one day here not too long ago I just woke up and - poof! - I was looking at, feeling about, and treating my body totally differently, and seeing it as more beautiful than not, more acceptable than not. One day, all my concentrated years of efforts simply PAID OFF. I am really not kidding (I kind of wish I was so I could give you more factual details of how this would be possible).

But I can only imagine that the same will be true for us all, and have met many people for which this expectation has also held true - it just takes the time it takes to turn the ship around. In the meantime, this is the beauty and the value of building a recovery community for ourselves. We then gain access to constant reminders, from those just a bit (or a lot) farther up the path than we are, of the wonderful relief, release and new life that waits for us up ahead.

In the meantime, as I am sure anyone engaged in sustained recovery work knows, reshaping a lifetime of thoughts and impressions doesn’t happen overnight. You must, just like I did, set your mind and heart on full recovery - no matter what - and accept nothing less than that for yourself. The mental schism between where you are coming from (where death itself might seem a welcome release from the constant painful chatter of the ED mind) and where you are headed (that very same welcome release, through your diligent, daily efforts to achieve recovery) is growing wider and wider.

So grit your teeth and do whatever it takes to bear the transition pangs. Have you ever had braces? I have … and rubber bands, and headgear … man that hurt! For FOUR YEARS! My whole mouth was traumatized. But now those growing pains are a dim memory, and I have a wonderful lifetime’s worth of beautiful, straight teeth yet ahead of me to show for it.

You will, too - if you just KEEP WALKING FORWARD.

Warmly,

Shannon

www.key-to-life.com