Using the Skills that Fueled Your ED for Recovery

​Have you ever struggled with the thought of recovery from your Eating Disorder? Ever wrestle with the terrifying idea that you have to unlearn all of the negative habits, skills and characteristics that fueled your disorder and learn all new ones that you can take into recovery? What if I told you that you could use those aspects that you have deemed as negative, repurpose them, and use them in your recovery? Does this interest you? If so, read on!
 
Let’s start by listing all of the habits and characteristics that helped you fuel your disorder. If you’re having a hard time thinking of some, let me help you to get started! Have you ever been at a party and resisted the pizza and/or delicious cake for the sake of your Eating Disorder? That sounds very difficult, and resisting it must have taken Strength. And yes, that’s one characteristic that you have! Did you ever drag your butt out of bed to go work out when it was the very last thing you wanted to do? If so, sounds like a mix of Persistence, Commitment and Dedication. I’m sure you’ve also had experience being a mathematician with the most amazing memory when you started memorizing the calories in certain foods and calculating it all within seconds. Sounds like an Intelligent and Skillful person with the ability to Think in Abstracts. What about hiding food, food wrappers and food habits? Now, I know that takes Creativity! Take some more time, think about the habits that made up your Eating Disorder and allowed it to thrive, write them down. Next to it, write down all the skills and characteristics that enabled you to commit to those habits! 

​Before we move on to discuss how we can use them in recovery, let’s take a second to recognize these as positive characteristics that we possess. It’s too easy and too typical to hate ourselves, aspects of ourselves, think of ourselves negatively and want to punish ourselves when we are amidst an Eating Disorder. However, let’s recognize these underlying traits we possess as positive! They can be used for good too and you should feel awesome at all these traits that you hold! With them, you can do anything!
 
Take a breath now. Remember that you don’t have to relearn everything to recover. You have what you need inside of you to work toward recovery. You can Commit and Dedicate yourself to your treatment and to the work that will help lead you to recovery. You can take your ability to Think in Abstracts to pick up a new hobby that can be used as a coping skill and replace the maladaptive coping skills you’ve had in your Eating Disorder! Croqueting anybody? What about putting together puzzles or writing stories? Use your Creativity to find other ways to engage in behaviors that are helpful in your recovery such as creating poetry or art to help express what’s inside instead of holding it in? Use your Persistence to not let a stumble stop you from continuing to work toward recovery!

Remember you are a powerful being! You have skills within you that can be used to help you on your journey to recovery. You can do it! What types of skills do you find that you have that you can or have used to aid in your recovery? Looking forward to hearing more about it!

I hope you found this post helpful! Please share with anyone who may be struggling with their readiness to begin their treatment journey. If you have any questions, concerns or requests for future posts, feel free to leave a comment or message me privately.

I wish you to see the colors between black and white on the way to finding your State of Balance!

You can also check out my YouTube channel for more inspiration!

You may also find these posts helpful:
The Lie We Tell Ourselves
Creating Space
Commit to Yourself by Committing to Treatment