A letter imaging 5 years without anorexia, and how it helped put things into perspective.
In January I was seeing a different therapist for a number of sessions while waited for the NHS team to get back to me. During the course of these sessions, I was asked to do a number of ‘homework‘ assignments, one of which was writing letters.
In each letter I had to imagine a different scenario five years in the future; One letter was to be written with the idea that I was five years without anorexia, and the other was the opposite.
The idea of writing letters from a place in the future, good or bad, is to help put the idea of recovery into perspective. One asks you to imagine all the ways your life has improved without anorexia, and one asks you to imagine all the ways it hasn’t if you choose to keep anorexia in your life.
It allowed me to see why I was doing this both from a positive and negative standpoint.
This was written in January 2019, and some facts will have changed.
It’s been five years since we first met. I just thought I would write to tell you how I’ve changed and how my life has changed without anorexia.
Since recovering from anorexia a number of years ago Ryan and I have been able to travel to more places. We’ve visited Finland, which has been on my bucket list since I was a teenager. It was every bit as magical as I had imagined. We even got to see the northern lights.
There are a few other places we’ve been to as well; Egypt, Japan, Singapore and we’re planning to visit my extended family in Australia.
Traveling with an eating disorder was always so stressful for not only me but Ryan as well.
I never thought leaving the disorder behind would open so many doors! I still get anxious flying but I think that’ll be something I’ll always deal with. It’s just my character.
I’ve continued with to work and although this is rough sometimes, I’m managing well. I’ve worked on several side projects in regards to mental illness and wellness, specifically writing. Through doing this I’ve not only helped others but I’ve helped myself along the way.
In the future, I’m considering branching out into a career in counseling to help other eating disorder sufferers. At the moment, however, this is still only an idea and I have nothing set in stone.
We adopted another little cat to keep Willow company in her old age! She wasn’t happy but got used to the idea fairly quickly.
Self-care has become part of my daily vocabulary. I frequently practice Yoga and mindfulness as a way to calm my mind and become present with myself. I realise now that self-care is necessary and not selfish, so I try to take as much time as I can to look after myself and my mental health. I’m also managing well in regards to understanding and processing my emotions, something I was clueless about before meeting you.
Anyway, I’ve gone on long enough, I just wanted to write to you and thank you for all your help you gave me in the early stages of my recovery.
Kind regards.
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Wow! This article really got to me. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for reading :)
What a memorable way to share your progress. Thanks for sharing with the rest of us and for being so honest.
Thank you for stopping by :)
I like how you use mindfulness, I'm so glad it's giving you victory! Thank you for sharing, great journey!
Thank you for stopping by :)
What a great strategy for creating hope by allowing your mind to glimpse a positive future. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for popping in :D
I think it is brave and commendable that you are able to put yourself out there in such an authentic and personable way. I have no doubt that what you share about your journey, your struggles, and how you hang on to the positive energy of moving forward will prove to be healing for you and healing for others who are battling something difficult. Thank you for taking your power and for bringing that inspiration to others. There's a word for that- Espavo! 💙 🌹 🍃 May you continue to walk in beauty and truth.
Thank you so much for your kind words. There is nothing else for it but to be positive and move forward, the alternative doesn't bare thinking about. xx
Wow, that's all I can say Your an Amazing person to be able to Overcome!! Congrats!
Thank you - these are just letters imagining my life without anorexia and everything I will gain back from it.
All I see in this letter is strength and like i have up on my blog, women like you, i call kinging queens. Keep on winning and keep helping others!
http://www.kingingqueen.com
I'd never heard of this technique before but I absolutely love it. It's such a great way to put in perspective what you want from your recovery. Thank you so much for sharing, I'm sure it will inspire so many people, not just with anorexia but with other mental health disorders too. Keep going with your recovery, you'll get there :) wishing you all the best with it xxx
Thank you very much pet! This means alot :D
What a beautiful letter! Congratulations on your recovery and accomplishments!
Haven't got there yet but someday! These are just letters imagining my life free and not free :)
What a powerful letter, made me emotional because I have been there and understood some.of the challenges
Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting. I hope I can get to the stage that, in 5 years, I am entirely free!
Wow this really tugged at my heart strings. I too am a recovering anorexic and have tried to live a healthy Vegan life for almost 14 years now. Thank you so much for sharing this. xx
Thank you so much for stopping by and showing your support. I used to be a vegetarian but it was purely because I believed I could get away with eating less calories than the average, non-vegetarian person. I would love to be able to go back there with genuine reasons but sadly I don't think that will ever be an option.
5 years is awesome.
You should absolutely go onto counseling! The fact that you've been through it already means clients are more readily able to trust you.
Hopefully, the 5 years post anorexia becomes a reality rather than just an imagined letter. I'm still considering going into counseling but I'm unsure if I'll ever be able to due to the eating disorder and accompanying mental health issues.