Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway.

Feel the fear and do it anyway.

Fear - a universal emotion that has the ability to rob us of so many different opportunities and experiences when we give into it.  We all have our own unique fears, but it's likely we can all relate to the uncomfortable feeling of facing something we fear head on.  There is always the buildup to taking on what we fear, and during this buildup we get the urge to run, hide, or give into the fear, allowing it to continue to control and conquer us.  And the more we back down from what we fear, the more we ingrain in ourselves the belief that we are not strong enough to take on, and move past, our fears.

In recovery, we must face our fears in order to get better.  Whether it's trying to eat a fear food, trying to step outside our routine, or simply trying to use a new coping skill that is different from the maladaptive ones we've become used to, we need to take on the fears that keep us attached to our eating disorders in order to heal.  The longer we avoid facing what we fear, the more we believe we are too weak to conquer them.

Because the moments leading up to taking on a fear can be deeply intimidating and uncomfortable, this affirmation is ideal for helping us over the hurdle, moving us past the fear that is inhibiting us, and moving us into action.  These words are tremendously helpful because they honor the presence of fear, then invite us to feel our fear, then challenge us to step past our fear.  So often when we feel fear, we get the urge to turn away from it in an effort to end the discomfort it invokes.  This affirmation asks us to change how we feel about fear as an emotion.  Instead of letting our fears dictate what we can and can't do, these words invite us to notice the presence of our fearful emotions, but  then challenge us not to allow them to change our actions, especially when we know that growth and recovery lie beyond our fears.

We are all strong and resilient beings.  No matter what our particular fears are, we always have the choice to either give into them, or to move beyond them.  Ultimately, the more we refuse to allow ourselves to be limited by what we fear, the more we experience, grow, and get to know our true strengths.  Though I know it is difficult and takes courage, I wish for us all to make the choice to no longer be limited by that which we fear.

Sending support and hope,

Taylor

My Size Does Not Determine Who I Am.

My size does not determine who I am.

In a culture that is so obsessed with weight and appearance, it is very easy to become fixated on our physical appearances.  For those of us with eating disorders, that little voice in our heads takes this focus on the body to the extreme, causing us to base our concept of self-worth and self-valuation on this one part of ourselves.  As our eating disorders grow stronger, and the longer they are around, the more we lose sight of our whole, authentic selves.  And as we lose sight of these various parts of ourselves, the size of our body increases in importance in our mind because we begin to believe that if we're no longer thin, then who are we?  Fear of losing this one part of ourselves keeps us rooted in the cycle of our eating disorder: our eating disorder tells us we're only worthwhile if we're thin, and the more we engage in our eating disorder behaviors, the more rigidly we fear letting go of our eating disorders and our fixation on thinness, because we have effectively lost sight of other parts of ourselves to be proud of. 

This is where this affirmation is so helpful.  It reminds us that in recovery we begin to rediscover pieces of ourselves that we lost along the way, and we begin to rediscover and reconnect to our whole, authentic selves.  As we do this, we begin to let go of our belief that only our bodies and their size determine our worth and who we are.  We can use these words in moments of struggle, when our eating disorders try to lure us back to self-destructive behaviors by telling us we're nothing if our bodies don't look a certain way.  When we remember these words, we reaffirm what recovery teaches us: that we are so much more than our physical bodies, and that we all deserve to know and love our whole selves.  By choosing recovery, we allow ourselves to relinquish the idea that our bodies determine our worth.

So, may we all refuse to limit ourselves with the belief that our physical bodies define us.  May we instead choose to walk the road of recovery, discovering and reclaiming our true, authentic selves, and learning to love and respect ourselves for all that we are.

Wishing everyone the chance to rediscover our whole selves,

Taylor

Recovery Brings Joy!

Recovery brings joy!

The journey of recovery is a process that can be difficult, frustrating, uncomfortable, and anxiety-inducing.  Because we have to challenge ourselves to leave our comfort zones and withstand the resulting discomfort, it can sometimes be easy to fall into moods of anger, sadness, or frustration; we wonder why we have to go through this, and wish we could magically be cured instead of having to work every day for our recovery.  However, we must remember why we are working our recovery - because, even though it's hard, it brings amazing things into our lives.

This affirmation is a perfect reminder whenever we find ourselves slipping into anger or self-pity because it asks us to focus on everything we gain from staying the course.  With recovery we learn to connect to ourselves and others.  We learn to make genuine, authentic relationships.  We open ourselves to new experiences we closed ourselves off to in the past.  We start to open our eyes beyond the scope of our eating disorders so that we can see the intricate beauty of the world around us.  In addition, in recovery we begin to connect to our authentic selves and give ourselves the chance to find new reasons to love ourselves as we begin to take joy and pride in stepping into our full potentials as human beings.

Recovery is not easy by any means - it's a journey with days and days of waking up and recommitting to redefining our lives for ourselves.  And yet, it's easier to make this commitment each day, especially on the hard ones, when we remember how much joy and freedom recovery brings to our lives.  So, let us all commit to the journey and open ourselves to the joy that it brings us.

Sending you all thoughts of joy,

Taylor