HEART TO HEART: Reconstructing Your Life

When dieting, calorie counting, bingeing and purging become ways of reducing fear, tension, and anxiety, giving up these behaviors takes much more than willpower alone. Some other coping mechanisms must be substituted. Here is a list of creative things to do in the reconstruction of your life:

1. Simplify things by asking, "What needs doing most today?"
2. Make simple, non-impulsive decisions about school, work, and relationships.
3. Have compassion for your emotional fragility.
4. Get out and around other people, such as watching children play in the park.
5. Call friends for support and allow yourself to be needy. Commit to meeting with friends once a week.
6. Cultivate new habits, rather than focusing on getting rid of old ones. The old ones will get crowded out with newer, more self-loving ones this way.
7. Complete one simple task each day, such as cleaning closets or paying bills.
8. Relax with art, music, sewing, movies, laughing.
9. Accept setbacks and move on!
10. Realize that the eating disorder has called attention to things within me that have been neglected.
11. Accept the equal value of all human beings, recognizing there will always be differences in looks, abilities, and skills.
12. Accept that even though the quality of your life will show significant change, some of the old behaviors may remain.

Recovery involves retreating into reality instead of away from it. Some of the less obvious signs of recovery include accepting more responsibility for your life, taking a renewed interest in family, friends, school, job, lowering your perfectionistic expectations, and reaching out to others.

—Source material taken from The ANRED Alert. Find more ANRED information at www.anred.com.