Recovery from an eating disorder often changes daily and can feel like a mess. As I look back on my recovery experience I sometimes use photos to show myself how beautiful the journey actually is. Getting down on ourselves is something that might happen fairly often in recovery. This journey is usually not what we were really expecting, and may not look like other people’s recovery.
The stress and anxiety over our changing bodies and loss of control are things we eventually have to just put out into the universe and trust the process.
You have to let go of the things that you no longer can control and start focusing on the things that you can control. Here are five things that I did in recovery to get through the parts that felt like a mess. They also helped me have a beautiful recovery.
Make Your Food Colorful and Fun
If you are able to, use bright produce and fresh ingredients. Teach yourself how to cook and to use things that taste good and help you savor the moment. Buy a great cookbook that inspires you to travel or try new cuisine. Get soft serve ice cream with brightly colored sprinkles and eat it on a hot summer’s day.
Make food fun again.
I love to notice how kids look at food. They want it to be fun! They eat on colorful plates and have many different food groups together. Sometimes their food is cut into shapes and maybe it’s made into an animal. It’s playful and light-hearted. Find that fun and exciting connection with food again. Bring out your inner child.
Take Photos & Create Art
Photography is a great therapeutic tool I use often. We live in a society where social media is full of fake images that are filtered and altered. Take more photos of the actual beauty around you instead of yourself. Look at the flowers, make a beautiful meal, take pictures of your pets, take pictures of your home.
Find the beauty in little things.
Plant a gorgeous garden, create a floral arrangement, put together a vision board of beautiful things you want to incorporate into your life.
Wear Some Color
Color is something that is so fun and so underrated.
Wearing something that is bright and represents your personality can change your mood.
Through recovery, it can be hard at times to find clothes that we love on our ever-changing and transforming bodies. Go to a great vintage store and find a colorful purse, purchase some statement earrings, get a colorful kimono that is comfy. Have a little fun with your wardrobe and accessories.
Get A Good Candle and Bath Soak
Lighting a candle and taking a bath can be a beautiful form of self-care. The relaxing warm water with a skin-nourishing bath soak and a great smelling candle can take you from anxious to relaxed pretty quickly. You can make this experience more beautiful by cutting up some citrus slices and adding them to your bath along with rose petals and bath salts. It’s the little things here that count.
Try Yoga & Deep Breathing
Yoga and breathing exercises are beautiful tools. They connect you with your body and help you drown out any outside noise that may be affecting your recovery. Playing some peaceful music or even using a sound machine with crashing ocean waves really can set the mood for a zen filled reset.
I hope these tools will help you find the beauty among the mess of recovery.
