Wednesday, January 9, 2013

{Keys for a Successful Recovery: Wisdom}



If you haven't already, please read my first post in this series about endurance. Because after you have mastered the skill of sticking with your recovery, you can move into the wisdom realm of it.

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Wisdom in your recovery from anorexia or any eating disorder is crucial because without it, your judgement is going to be off and knowing which way to turn next will be a difficult question.

To me wisdom is a combination of a couple things. One, wisdom is knowing what you need, when you need it and how you need it. And two, wisdom is knowing the real truth behind your actions and being honest with those truths.

In the early stages of my anorexia, I was afraid to tell myself the truth. I was terrified that if I spoke about my problems out loud or really acknowledged an issue, that I would be worse off in some way or something bad would happen.Turns out the complete opposite was true. When I finally was able to face up to what was really going on inside my head, I was able to take back control and find a way to heal.

Another thing I learned throughout my eight years of fighting Ed, was how to listen to my heart and truly follow it. When you are struggling to recover you are also working on trying to find yourself in the process which can lead to learning a lot about who you are on the inside.When I started learning things about myself, I was able to know what would work for me or not, what was helpful, what wasn't, what I liked and disliked. And this pertained to both treatment related things and just plain life things.

I can remember a specific time when I was talking with a therapist and she wanted to give me a suggestion to help me. She thought that it would be a good idea to do weekly weigh-ins at the doctors, but I remember telling her that it wouldn't work for me, as it was extremely triggering and negative. I knew myself well enough to know what would work and what wouldn't in terms of my recovery and I was able to stand up for myself in this respect. 

Having the wisdom within your heart to follow what you know is the best thing for you is going to make all the difference. This can also go the other way when you know you shouldn't be doing a certain behavior. You know it's not going to help you, so you must have the wisdom to recognize what you are doing in order to have hope that you can change. 

One last thing about wisdom, I found in the serenity prayer, which goes like this:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Wisdom is needed to understand the different between the things you can change and the things you can't. There were many things throughout my recovery that I wished I could change, like the size of my hips or the fact that food was needed for survival, but knowing this was what made all the difference. 
"I was born with these hips and there is no way to change my bone structure to make them thinner so suck it up and accept yourself" is what I would tell myself constantly. And it worked, because today I don't fret over the size of my hip bones anymore, they are unique to me and I love them! 


A wise person is a happy person. Practice wisdom daily. 

And never forget to honor who you are inside. 

{Please share this post with anyone who you think could benefit from it! Along with the other posts in this series!}

2 comments:

  1. I feel like you are speaking directly to me with this post, even though you clearly aren't. :) I will be passing this along to some of my friends in recovery, I have a feeling it will speak to them, too. You are amazing.

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  2. I was just linked to your blog by a friend I love very much. I have a very difficult doctor's appointment facing me tomorrow, and I needed to read this more than anything today. Life starts anew every moment, it's time I stopped living in my "what if"s and "I should"s, gather my wisdom, and to do what is right for me. In the here and now, for the good of my soul. No more and no less than what is truly and thoroughly me.
    Thank you, Tayla. I'm looking forward to reading more.

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