For me I don't really have any "inspirations" for recovery or anything like that. Really I was forced into recovery by my doctor and really just haven't allowed myself to slip (by my perfectionistic personality and also because I know the stress it would put on my parents).
Anyway onto some of the things that have helped me stick with recovery
- Music - This would have to be one of the things that have helped me to stick out recovery and I use it multiple times a day to help me get through the day. For me music has always been something I have really enjoyed, whether that just be listening to it or playing it.
I find that music can be extremely powerful, a great distraction and its easy to get lost in it and switch your brain off when listening to it. Right now I have two songs in particular that are helping me a lot.. One around eating and the thoughts associated with that, and the other is helping me with my depression..
- Instagram - This would have to be one of the most helpful and inspiring things that I have done throughout recovery and I would recommend anyone do it that is starting out in recovery. You just have to make sure you are following people in the recovery community and not the "pro ana" community especially if you are easily triggered. Though annoyingly enough you will find a lot of those accounts will end up following you...
This community is amazing, and so supportive. I have found so many people that live in my city alone (as well as throughout NZ) and I hope one day soon to meet all of them because they are all amazing, strong and such inspiring people who have helped and supported me through this. It also helps that they have a bit of a better understanding of what its like to go through this (both the ED and onto recovery) and just how hard and what a struggle it is.
- My Friends and Family - without them I would have probably would have been in relapse a long time ago. Let me clarify that I am no way stating that I'm the picture of recovery at the moment, if anything I feel like I am in a pretty bad place.. But I'm managing to carrying on with eating even though its getting extremely hard.
Having friends and family to talk to when I find things are getting a bit hard is really helpful. I actually only let friends know about my anorexia about a month ago by following them on instagram. All of them were extremely supportive and its really reassuring to have people you know and trust helping you along and also being aware of what you're going through.
- University - Currently I am studying to be an early childhood teacher, being around and interacting with children is something that really brings me joy. They never fail to cheer me up, they will say or do something funny or adorable and it just automatically makes my mood better and brightens my day.
When I finally finish my degree my hope is that I would become registered as an ECE teacher and find a job in that field. Something else I would love to do is studying nutrition and fitness as this is something else that I really enjoy and find interesting - more so nutrition.
But I've found that uni is also a great for a range of things. it gets your brain thinking again, gets you out of the house and also throws you out of your comfort zone especially when it comes to social eating and just interacting with people again - which I know I found hard. Luckily my uni has let me continue with the class I was with and haven't held me back to complete what I missed at the start of this year, which helped a lot.
- Work - Currently I am a reliever at an early childhood centre and have been associated with that centre in one way or another for about three years. I find that work is a great distraction because its a chance to interact with other people, being thrown into a completely different environment and gives you something else to focus on (and earning some money in the process doesn't hurt). For me I love the other teachers that I work with but most of all I love the children within this centre. They never fail to cheer me up and to be honest I have been to 5 different centres through work and university and none even come close to my work!
- Reading - This is something I am still trying to get back into, though I am finding it extremely hard because I am finding it extremely hard to find the time around uni work and also I am finding it quite hard to concentrate. I used to love reading. Though as a child I absolutely despiced it! I think up until I started reading for enjoyment in my very late teens there was only one chapter I had actually finished (I'm not kidding). I started reading for enjoyment 6 years ago and I have never looked back. I have found some amazing series and authors because of this and it is something that I love because it gets you out of your own head and focusing on something completely different.
I hope that this was helpful to someone and that someone got something out of it, I'm sorry it's so long
No comments:
Post a Comment