A misplaced Texan living in NYC, Lindsey Hall is a book publicist by day and eating-disorder activist by night. She has spent the past year and a half de-stigmatizing stereotypes behind eating disorders for those who need help but are often too scared to inquire. Lindsey has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Mind Body Green, and today on The Recovery Warrior Show. Tune in to learn what close to 3 years of recovery has taught Lindsey about herself and the world around her.
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What You’ll Learn
- How can social media support recovery
- Why you cannot run away from your eating disorder
- The fallacy of “not sick enough”
- What is PCOS and how it’s diagnosis can impact eating disorder recovery
- Life at residential treatment and much more…
Favorite Quote
Oh my God, what if you wake up some day, and you’re 65, or 75, and you never got your memoir or novel written; or you didn’t go swimming in warm pools and oceans all those years because your thighs were jiggly and you had a nice big comfortable tummy; or you were just so strung out on perfectionism and people-pleasing that you forgot to have a big juicy creative life, of imagination and radical silliness and staring off into space like when you were a kid? It’s going to break your heart. Don’t let this happen. -Anne Lamott
Favorite Recovery Resource
- 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad
- The Marshmallow Test: Why Self-Control is the Engine of Success by Walter Mischel
- Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Advice to Former Self
Baby, you are loved. There is a big old world out there for you to take on however you wish and you can do that. You can make your own choices, you make them all; not your parents, not your environment, or your friends…you build the life that you want.
You’re not alone, but you are right now because you’re missing your life. You’re missing Christmas and you’re missing thanksgiving and you’re missing laughter at a table with your girlfriends because you’re thinking about the next time you have to go purge or how much you’re eating
It’s okay that you’re struggling. Your best friend died and that sucks and you’re okay to be sad sometimes. You don’t have anything to prove to anybody. You can sit in your sadness and know that it won’t last forever; it doesn’t have to stay this way forever. Life kind of fluctuates in both happiness and in sadness and you’re allowed to feel both of those things. Be easy on yourself. Be gentle.
Warrior Moment
I forgave someone this week that had hurt me. I sat down with them and empathized about why they hurt me. I actually listened. It’s easy to talk at people and not listen. I sat there and let this person explain why they hurt me or why they made the choices that they made; at the end of it, I just forgave them.
Definition of Recovery
Accepting fluidity. I think it’s being gentle on yourself. It’s f’ing up and being ok with it. It’s trying new things. I think it’s recognizing that you’re human; that skin is skin, and that you’re doing the best that you can do. Lastly, I think recovery is understanding that an eating disorder doesn’t define you.
For Your Journey
- Find professional help through Recovery Warriors Help Finder
- Rise Up + Recover app on Google Play and iTunes
- Music Credit: “Something to Live For” by Mallory Faye
Connect with Lindsey
I was wondering. I’ve been in recovery for about 8 months now and I’ve struggled with an ED for about 4 years. I’ve been doing absolutely amazing actually and Art therapy has really really helped me in my recovery. I have a few ideas/concepts/metaphors that have been absolutely so so amazing and helpful in my recovery and would LOVE to possible be interviewed for a podcast!! Let me know!! I really want to help others and I feel like I have a lot to say. Especially because I don’t think you have done a whole lot on art therapy.