Top Three Reasons to Recover

From Libero Network, Scott Gramke

I think we can all agree recovery is difficult.  Really difficult.  Sometimes it seems like more trouble than it is worth.  I know I have felt that way on more than one occasion.  Sometimes we need to remind ourselves what we are working toward.  Sometimes we need to be shown the light at the end of the tunnel when we lose sight of it for ourselves.

Here are three of the most compelling reasons I choose to recover every day:

1. I want to discover myself:  When I was sick, every thought I had revolved around eating, food, and exercise.  This left very little energy to think about who I am as a person.  It left no time for me to think about what I want to do with my life.  I had no dreams, no hopes for the future.  Through recovery, I have discovered who I am, what I want to do with my life, and so much more about myself.  If I were still sick today, I would never have come to these realizations about myself, and I wouldn’t be half the person I am today.

2. I want to be healthy:  In order to put my realizations and goals into action, I have to be physically healthy.  This is something I think many people take for granted.  Those of us who have gone through an eating disorder know health is nothing to take for granted.  Although this truth is certainly something that is easy to lose sight of, deep down we all know that the rules our eating disorder persuades us to live by are not healthy.  These rules only lead to malnourishment, brittle bones, hormone and chemical imbalances, and much more.  And that’s just physically, not even taking into account the mental and emotional effects.  In order to achieve health, like I believe we all want, we need to work toward recovery and a healthy relationship with food.

3. I want to enjoy my life:  I know this sounds overly simplistic, but it is the truth.  Life is wonderful, exciting, and never what we expect.  That is the beauty of it – enjoying life for what it is, enjoying the big things and the little things, the good and the bad, just as they are.  When I was entrenched in my eating disorder, I didn’t enjoy anything.  Even the most pleasant times of my life were consumed by thoughts of food and inadequacy. Recovery allows us to fully enjoy the positive events in our lives that we aren’t able to when the eating disorder has control over our every thought.  Life is too short to have the amazing experiences overshadowed by thoughts of food, exercise, and inadequacy.

Recovery is hard – believe me, I know – but it is worth the effort. These are only three of the hundreds of reasons why.