Inspirational Women and Words to Help You In Eating Disorder Recovery

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Category: Inspiring Women, Inspiring Lives

Recovering from an eating disorder means learning to cope with life demands without  your eating disorder standby behaviors.  When you stop the eating disorder you have gaps in your psyche. You don't have inner resources developed yet to see you through your challenges.
 
Looking to the hard won wisdom of people you admire to learn how they cope can seed your own psyche with inspiring words that help you develop the new inner support system you need.

See if any of these quotes speak to you.

Mignon McLaughlin author of The Neurotic's Notebook, 1963.

I can own up to this one.  Other people consider me a well organized person.  Hah.  Organization is my weakest suit.

 Here's another that takes some hard looking.

"We write our own destiny.  We become what we do."

Madame Chiang Kai-Shek

Perhaps we only have evidence of how this relates to our lives in retrotspect. That can be a wake up call to the ramifications of how we are living now.

Write and you become a writer.  Give birth to a child. Abandon your child and the action can define you.  Mother your child and that shapes you as well.  Starve and you lived deprived.  Binge and you live frustrated with never enough.  Starve or binge, you create a barrier between you and the world of health and the life of enough.  But take positive action based on your authentic sense of value, morals and ethics and you will become a person you are glad to be.

And this one from the stalwart and courageous First Lady of the Depression and World War II.

"A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water."

Eleanor Roosevelt

What kind of a tea bag are you?  Can you look at your life, see the troubles you've had and recognize the strength you had to draw on to come through?  If you are alive and here and reading this, you came through. 

Illness? Financial troubles?  Legal woes? Life Disruption?  How have you done, and how are you doing?

What occurs to you when you look at your life through the perspective of these women's words? Can you feel your way to seeding a few of your gaps?

 *pix By Unknown - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3c08091, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=294093

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0 # I think weaknesses are just strengths th — mylifex2 2012-02-29 19:09

I think weaknesses are just strengths that have not been tested. They have to develop over time, and through life's trials. We are who we are, weaknesses and strengths. Everyone has both. We make decisions every day ~ conscious and unconscious, positive and negative, healthy and unhealthy. Sometimes I don't know I am being strong in a situation until I look back and see that I was strong - simply because I made it through the situation.
I think the biggest strength I have had to draw on in my life is hope that things will get better. Save two very poor almost life ending decisions - I would have to say that I keep going because I keep hoping things will get better, and I don't want to miss opportunities that were planned for my life. This is especially true now that I have children.
It is this hope that has guided me into therapy and keeps me going back. It is hope that led me to this site and keeps me reading and conversing with others who are struggling. It is hope that helps me reach out when I am not ok.
tracy

0 # Beautiful, Tracy. "Weaknesses are just — pinkjoanna 2012-02-29 21:11

Beautiful, Tracy. "Weaknesses are just strengths that have not been tested." Yes, and somehow, it's the testing that develops our strength. Knowing that helps us move into new territory where the healing is. And yes, love for our children shows us inner strength and courage we might not have known we possess.

0 # Tracy, I almost posted something very si — shh 2012-03-01 01:10

Tracy, I almost posted something very similar yesterday, but got called away...I have been in situations in the past that have led to me becoming very low, and depressed, and stuck in holes that I've really struggled to heave myself out of, and when I started in therapy for my ED, I realised that I have been "tested" and pushed to my limits on several occasions and yet I am here to tell the tale. And my way of thinking shifted from believing I was weak because those things affected me so much and for allowing myself to reach such depths of despair, to actually thinking that I'm quite strong, because I survived, I got myself through them, and I'm still here. And through that belief, I acknowledge that life will still deal me some harsh blows sometimes, but I KNOW that I WILL survive, and just in knowing and believing that, I don't think I will ever fall quite so far as I have done in the past, before I start to bounce back again.

0 # Is having an ED a weakness? Is it a wea — lori 2012-03-01 04:31

Is having an ED a weakness? Is it a weak method of coping with life? My parents and my husband despised weakness and had contempt for weak people. From the first quote I gather that we all try to hide, cover over, and cope with weakness. It is the last thing I ever wanted to admit to myself-- that I might be a weak person. My ED always made me feel strong because I could be thin when others struggled. I could have self control when others were self indulgent.

Life has certainly poured hot water on me. But, I am still here. Damaged, but still here. Hurting, but still here. I guess I have hope that the future is worth staying around for. I think that hope gives me strength.

0 # but, Lori, our ED's may make us feel "st — mylifex2 2012-03-01 08:37

but, Lori, our ED's may make us feel "strong" when we restrict because of that feeling of control we have. This attempt to maintain our control feeds on itself to the point we feel weak when we actually do things that are healthy and nurturing. For me, it's that vulnerable place that is exposed when I am trying to be healthy and not rely on my ED to cover my anxiety about life or past hurts, etc...I wouldn't say we are weak when we use our ED's to cope, because that has a negative feel to it, but I would say we are utilizing strength when we plow through life WITHOUT using our ED as a coping mechanism. I don't think any of us are weak. I think we work overtime to survive.
tracy

0 # Let me add another point to consider. S — pinkjoanna 2012-03-01 15:16

Let me add another point to consider. Strength and weakness are not value judgments. They are descriptions of conditions. Looking at our strengths and weaknesses with appreciation helps us to make decisions about any actions we will take.

For example, on a baseball team the pitcher is usually strong as a pitcher but weak as a hitter. The big hitters do not pitch. It's their weak area. The coach places them, uses their strengths where they accomplish the most.

Us too.

Lace may be weak, so we don't use it for hiking clothes. Denim may be strong but it's not our choice in a wedding gown.

I think the topic has a lot to do with how we direct and use our strengths and weaknesses.

0 # I like how we all mentioned - or alluded — mylifex2 2012-03-01 18:54

I like how we all mentioned - or alluded to - the word HOPE.
tracy

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