Treating Myself Well

Submitted by HealthierBody on January 1, 2006 - 4:32pm.

So I'm just going to come right out with the issue here.

Many women in Western society go to extreme measures to control and reform their bodies, and I am one of them.

However, as of today (call it a New Year's Resolution if you must, but I think the date is more coincidental) I am going to ignore unreasonable body standards and do what I should for my body. I vow to stick to this for one year and see how I feel. If I'm no better off mentally and physically, I guess I could always go back to my vices.

There are two main things I'm going to quit - 1) the whole binge/purge fiasco and 2) smoking cigarettes. Very unneeded aspects of my lifestyle! One wastes energy, and other, money.

I'm going to cook my meals and stop feeling guilt when I consume a satisfying amount of food. Why should women feel like they need to focus their attention on restriction when there are so many other goals that we should be focusing our attention on?

I have no doubt that due to my history of obsessing over body image the last few years, this will not be a perfect journey. But I'm willing to seek the help of friends, and moreover, look at myself honestly, in the eye, knowing that I can't afford to let these issues have a place in my life anymore.

Too many people suffer these thoughts in secret, and I hope that by publicizing my struggle, I will help others with similar aflictions.

» HealthierBody's blog |

| 695 reads

Third Day of the Year...

Submitted by HealthierBody on January 3, 2006 - 9:01pm.

So it’s now been a couple days since I made my resolution to treat myself better. At the very least, to treat myself within reason! It is usually very difficult for people with a history of eating disorders to unlearn their behaviors without professional therapy, but I really think I can use the promises I make to myself into an adequate motivation to change the role that food has in my life. If it is my steadfast belief that I must replace my methods of weight control with other choices and value systems – choices and values that sustain life instead of repressing it – then change will manifest itself. It will have to.

Yesterday I was in a hurry in the morning, and stressed out because I’m moving to a different city at the end of the week. But I made sure to eat a balanced breakfast before I left my apartment. It was good. I was full, so I didn’t think about anything related to food on the commute downtown. I read a book and made notes in the margins when paragraphs informed me of what I need to do to improve my own writing process.

For lunch, I was back home, packing some bags and writing some emails, and I made sure to cook and eat with my roommate. She doesn’t know about my food issues, so it was comfortable, and I realized that it is very possible to exist without a concern of overeating. Sometimes people do overeat. Other times they don’t. It balances out, and that balance finds a place to exist in the back of a healthy mind.

I guess over the next few months I will not only have a healthier body, freed from the violence of purging, but a healthier mental constitution, as well.

» login or register to post comments

congrats!

Submitted by akimoto_baby on January 4, 2006 - 3:54am.

you seem to be doing well to reach your resolution! I must take a leaf from your book! I made a resolution to wake up at 6 every morning and go for a jog, but so far it has remained just another unfulfilled resolution...right, tommorrow morning I'll keep your story in mind and kick myself out of bed!

» login or register to post comments

how you doing?

Submitted by akimoto_baby on January 9, 2006 - 8:32am.

Haven't had any updates from you! Hope you are nearer to achieving a healthier body! Sadly I'm not fulfilling my resolution to jog every morning at all! =(

» login or register to post comments

Online users:

Today's:

Last viewed: