I was 18 before I realised that Ana was not my friend but my enemy. I realised that I didn’t like the person I was becoming and declared war on my eating disorder. I was 22 when my parents found me in my room, exhausted from the fight and suicidal. I was hospitalised and eventually transferred to an eating disorder unit at the Priory clinic.
During my time there with the help of the extremely supportive staff, I managed to turn my life around. I feel like a completely different person. That does not mean that I never have moments when I worry about my weight or that my life is perfect, nobody's is ! What it does mean however is that I am committed to recovery and finally learning to like myself just as I am. It means that I no longer blame myself for the actions of others. It means that I am finally beginning to understand that all that matters is the inner beauty in each and everyone.
Over the last couple of years I have found that using creative writing really helps me. I have managed to create a system which incorporates all the lessons I learned in hospital and transform them into a story, not just any story, but a living world inside my mind. Journeying through this world helps me to clear the fog in my mind, to organise my thoughts, to identify my feelings and find the appropriate healthy responses to them. It enables me to change my thinking. Maybe it will be a tool you could use? Click on the link below to find out more
