There is no right way to do recovery.
Recently someone asked me what I wish everyone knew about eating disorder recovery and treatment.
My answer: There is no one “right” way to do recovery. There is only your way.
The only way to create true sustainable recovery is to find what works for your life, which may change over time. Otherwise you’re just trading the eating disorder or diet culture rules for “recovery rules,” both of which are external expectations that may or may not fit for you.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to recovery.
Don’t get me wrong, external structure is really helpful sometimes especially at the beginning of recovery when we may have no contact with our true self. We need that essential support to get out of the darkness so that we can connect with ourselves enough to actually know what we want in our lives and what truly fits us. However, if we come to rely on the scaffolding outside of ourselves, it will eventually become another cage.
I find the process of creating our own unique recovery beautiful and exciting. Over the years I’ve collected lots of strategies, tools, structures, and ideas that can work depending on a person’s particular circumstances, needs, values, and personality. I see building recovery as a process of trying on these recovery concepts as experiments, gathering information each time about what works and what doesn’t work. We can choose what we keep and what we throw out as we experiment again and again. When we see everything that happens as valuable information, the entire process can become almost fun!
What if recovery were fun? Maybe just some of the time?
Whether it’s fun or not, it’s yours. Ultimately you get to decide what you want your recovery – and your life – to look like, to feel like, to be. Eating disorders and diet culture take away our power, recovery is a process of reclaiming our power one step at a time!
My goal as a therapist and guide is to support people in creating their own unique recovery. It’s one of my favorite things because it’s different each time.
You are unique and your recovery is unique, however you are not meant to do it alone.
I deeply believe that recovery works when it is:
Created by you
Supported by others
I’d love to know what you believe!
Don’t forget these four things:
I care about you;
having a body is beautiful;
recovery is possible; and
we choose what matters in this one wildly precious life!
