Recovery Speaks: Stories and Videos

I was once was a girl with dreams, smiles, a loved one, and a life. The day my worst enemy took my life away was two years ago, it switched my mind around and made me throw my lunch in the garbage forever. My ethnic backround cherished food, but i despised it and wanted nothing to do with it. I became a different person.. the life i knew i had, i thought was gone.. just like i would be gone from this earth one day. Everything was so far away and i was disappearing. I could not stay strong and could not stand up. I would wake up in the mornings holding a mirror and seeing a reflection of sores on my spine and bones. I didn't think they were showing enough, this evil curse took over my mind for two years. I was a ghost, i had a flushed face, frail hair and a family that was hurting.

Goodbye Ana
I’m Kate, 31 and relieved to be able to say that today I am in recovery from anorexia. Recovery to me has been a long, painful process involving therapy, hospitalisations and learning to change my anorexic thoughts and behaviour patterns, primarily through Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Cognitive Analytical Therapy.

Dearest “Ana”,

Allow us to introduce ourselves. Our names are Megan and Alex. Hopefully we will never encounter you again. In the future we will invest a lot of time in avoiding you, and we expect the same from you. In the past, we have felt all of your comments slice into our skin like sharp daggers; how we are “so worthless” and “fat”, and how we possess “nothing of importance.” And where has this gotten us, may we ask? Absolutely nowhere! Nobody’s perfect, but making an effort is what counts.

HOPE, by artist Mariette Deschenes. Read about her painting: 

This is one of my favorite paintings.  I named it HOPE because it represents my journey from hopelessness to wellness and the growth of my orange tree.

Welcome to Hopewell's first promotional film, written, directed and produced by Erahm Christopher

I am still in relapse, recovery mode. I am 24 years young and a single parent to a beautiful 4 year old boy. I have an eating disorder. I was free for almost three months, when I relapsed. I will not be defeated again, I am stronger and wiser, to the tricks of my illness. I have registered for closed groups, started personal training program and will beat this.
I started my illness after a very abusive relationship, and seeing my sister battle anorxia. I started to compete with her in a deadly game, she won!!!

There was a day, sitting in my psychiatrist’s office where I thought: there is no way that this darkness will ever lift, a day when I can have more than water in my fridge, a day when I can have a bag of cookies in my cupboard, or go out with friends, or wear a bathing suit in public or feel comfortable in the shirt I love, or fall in love… I never thought I could see ever getting away from my eating disorder… it was all consuming, it was consuming me and I was consuming food to get away from myself.

By Elizabeth , age 20
You’ve overstayed your welcome here,
This place is not your home.
My mind and body are tired of you
Find some other place to roam.

Anonymous
I would like all of you to imagine yourselves in a very dark hole. There is no light to be seen. You are so weak from starvation that getting out of bed is a huge effort, your blood pressure is dangerously low, your hair is falling out, a depression has set in that robs you of sound judgment and reasoning. You have removed yourself from all family and friends. You are no longer capable of making decisions for yourself because your eating disorder has totally and completely taken control of your life. It has no mercy.

Notes on a Butterfly
Anonymous

The butterfly, a beautiful creature produced by metamorphosis, is a symbol that is closely associated with eating disorders and one that has long been meaningful to me personally, though I’ve never explored on paper, until now, the reasons for this. There is a butterfly in my window, a butterfly of gold and crystals; it is a gift from many years ago, a gift that, on a sunny day, reflects rainbows of light in every corner of my living room. I felt at some level that there was a destiny greater than an existence of anxiety, hunger and guilt. That somehow there was more for me even if I couldn’t, like a caterpillar, see further than my next meal. Reflecting upon the butterfly and its life cycle is something that I’ve found thought provoking and illuminating and would like to share with you now.

Laura Collins, author of Eating With Your Anorexic, interviews experts in anorexia and bulimia and other eating disorders about what role parents play in causing eating disorders.

The Title Says It All. It's worth it. Stay Strong.

If you have an eating disorder please do not try to handle it alone. Get help. Eating disorder anorexia bulimia recovery ED success story. Here you have it... a big "thing" about me... I tried making this video a million times but me just talking made it so depressing... I thought that putting a positive spin on the whole thing made it a much more worthwhile

Here, I present a NEW way of seeing your eating disorder. My recovery group for those interested, can be found at: http://www.lifeaftered.com/ Source: Youtube.com