Have you ever felt like you are too old, or too far gone to recover? Meet Suzy Unger, living proof that recovery is possible at ANY age.
Suzy shared her incredible story on a recent episode of Recover Strong on The Recovery Warrior Shows Podcast Channel. She spent 20 years working as a celebrity agent in the entertainment industry, working with greats like Oprah and Paula Abdul. People thought she had it all together, but she was struggling deeply with an eating disorder and harmful levels of perfectionism.
On the brink of death, Suzy entered treatment and discovered her true life’s purpose beyond an eating disorder. She embraced recovery and left her career behind to become a licensed therapist. She now helps others heal from food and body issues, and is a proud ally who is passionate about bringing awareness to eating disorder struggles in the LGBTQIA+ community.
Suzy Unger has an extraordinary recovery story that she started at age 45, and has carried into her 50’s. She proves that recovery is possible no matter what age you are, or how long you’ve struggled.
Here are 3 key lessons from Suzy Unger on recovering past your 40’s:
It’s NEVER too late to recover
Here at Recovery Warriors, we’ve had SO many people ask for content about recovering in your 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and beyond. Suzy Unger’s story proves it’s never too late to recover and transform your life. It’s a choice you can make and succeed at any time.
Suzy was so motivated to recover that she became an inspiration for not only people recovering in their older years, but younger people too:
I was in treatment with women half my age, and I helped them recover. They told me the reason they recovered is because they’d never seen anyone who wanted recovery like I did.
If you want recovery, you can find it. It doesn’t matter how many years you’ve been suffering or what your age is. Recovery. is. possible.
Lean into the recovery journey
Recovery is hard. It’s a transformation that is messy, scary, and painful. And, there’s so many positive things that come from it too, like a deeper understanding of who you are and why you have struggled.
Suzy Unger reveled in the recovery journey. She loved being in treatment, and inspiring others with her story. She enjoyed it so much that she was in treatment for eight months, they had to ask her to leave!
I love this journey. I learned about myself, and all of the things that made me feel like I was constantly in deficit. I learned that I mattered.
Suzy had a lot of privilege to be in treatment for so long, and she did not take her experience for granted. She leaned into recovery, and found joys alongside the pain.
There is so much to learn in recovery, and you can lean into it whether you’re receiving a higher level of treatment, or working on your recovery on your own. Embrace both the light and dark corners of your psyche as you push up against your growth edges. Be in awe of the transformation you are achieving, because it is an amazing thing. Recovery doesn’t have to be all hardship, there are beautiful gifts of personal growth that come from it too.
Discover who you are beyond an eating disorder
You are not your eating disorder, your body size, or your career.
In recovery, Suzy realized that she was so much more than the superficial things in life she was trying to chase, and found a higher purpose beyond her identity as a Hollywood power agent. She found a new mission and purpose in life, beyond her physical body.
My recovery was based on knowing that if I could find something that mattered, outside of my physical body, anything was possible.
Find what matters, outside of your body and anything physical. There is so much to embrace in life when you discover who you are beyond your body or an eating disorder.
Thank you for this episode of your Recovery Warriors podcast. I am 66. I started to become anorexic in my later teenage years. I was very thin and lost my period when I was 20 for a couple of years. I got very sick at one point during that time. I think I probably came close to dying. I have put on some weight since that time but have always restricted my food intake.
I don’t want to be anorexic, so I’m really trying to overcome this health issue, but I sometimes think the journey will be too long and too hard at this stage of my life, so why bother? It is uplifting to read that someone in their later life has been able to heal.
Is it really possible? I’m having my 62 birthday tomorrow and I’ve been in a loop of despair, diet, desperation, diet, depression, diet, death wish, diet.