7th and final step to recovery? Resist.
Imagine you are Ronda Rousey and you are in the ring with ED. The way to kick ED’s ass is to resist his punches and then uppercut him in the jaw. Resisting is actually one of the more important steps, but it is at the bottom because once you do steps 1-6, this one becomes much easier to accomplish. This one you are going to fail at many times and that is ok! The more you resist ED, the smaller his punches become.
Here is an example:
Eat the 3 slices of pizza for lunch and DO NOT go workout or throw it up. Sit with the discomfort and see what happens. You know what will happen? Nothing. You will not gain weight, you will not be Violet and blow up like a blueberry, nothing will happen. Instead take a bath, deep breathe, turn on Hulu (I just recently watched all 4 seasons of the show, Younger) or call a friend to chat. Resist. It is the hardest thing to do, but it is the best way to fight off ED. Believe me it is frickin hard and sometimes the urge to go workout or purge yourself will be too great but at least try. Give yourself permission to sit with the discomfort for a good 30 minutes before you decide to act.
There are going to be times that you fail. There are going to be times where it feels like you have taken 5 steps forward and then 20 steps back. Recovery is a slow process that takes time, commitment and patience. It took me only 5 months to have a full blown eating disorder and it took me 8 years to get out of it and I am still working on it daily. Every day is a day for me to make progress. The discomfort that you feel when do absolutely nothing, is a good thing. It is a sign of growth. The more you can resist ED, the quicker you will be on your way to recovery.
Once you have mastered this final step, you will gained so much more confidence. Yes, ED still tries his hardest to get back into your good graces (and sometimes does), but you will be much stronger and more capable of saying, “no!” after practicing and eventually achieving resistance. Sometimes all it takes is some good self talk. There are times I will look at myself in the mirror and ask myself, “Do I want to save 120 calories and not drink wine tonight, or do I want to relax and enjoy myself?”. The answer is 99.9% of the time, “F**k it”.
Enjoy your life. It is yours to be enjoyed, not ED’s. So jab, cross, uppercut and knock the bastard out.
Yours,
Robin