By: Holly Shah Masters Level Intern
Living with an eating disorder can profoundly affect every aspect of your life. The internal dialogue associated with an eating disorder often manifests as a persistent whisper in your mind, influencing your self-perception and worldview. It is both understandable and expected to feel a connection to your eating disorder, especially when it is a daily presence. This raises a critical question: Am I my eating disorder? By exploring your identity outside of the eating disorder, you can uncover all of the positive attributes that define who you are.
So, how can you find your identity?
Explore Your Values
Engaging in a thorough exploration of your values can serve as an essential personal compass. This exploration may involve listing the principles that guide your daily life, the sources of your purpose, and the elements that bring you peace. Utilizing worksheets or online tools can facilitate this process and be a great place to start. Research indicates that understanding and integrating your values into your life is crucial for motivation and achieving goals. Aligning with your values not only helps clarify your identity beyond the eating disorder but also serves as a vital component in your recovery journey.
Find new Interests - While Doing Identity Work
Finding new interests or rediscovering past passions can be instrumental in shaping your identity. This exploration might entail trying a new hobby or encouraging yourself to participate in activities you have not done in years. Regardless of how this exploration unfolds, it is important to allow yourself the freedom to discover what brings you joy. The process of self-exploration necessitates honesty and openness. While you may encounter activities that do not enrich your life, you may also uncover ones that resonate deeply with your authentic self. The objective is to challenge yourself, enjoy the journey, and reflect on how these interests contribute to your identity.
Understand the Role of Relationships in Identity
When individuals reflect on their identity, their roles in relation to others often come to the forefront. These roles may include being a mother, daughter, sister, wife, boss, or friend. Such relationships are often fundamental to one's identity, as they involve daily interactions and can provide immense fulfillment. Engaging in a thoughtful examination of these roles can be an enriching exercise in self-exploration. Rather than simply listing your relationships, consider exploring how you engage within these dynamics.
For example, you might describe yourself as a:
🌺Loyal friend
🌺Dedicated and loving mother
🌺Committed and supportive wife
🌺Respectful employee
Use Mindfulness Techniques while in Eating Disorder Recovery
Throughout the journey of self-exploration, it is essential to carve out time for self-connection, allowing for a necessary pause from external distractions. While understanding your identity in relation to others and the world is important, it is equally vital to sit with your own thoughts. Mindfulness techniques such as meditation, deep breathing, and journaling create a safe space for discovering your passions, desires, goals, and beliefs. Engaging in this reflective practice not only aids in the discovery process but also facilitates a deeper connection with yourself.
Your eating disorder does not define who you are. Together, these elements form the pieces of a complex puzzle that, when assembled, reveal the unique picture of who you are. Although uncovering these aspects may present challenges, it can also be an exciting and fulfilling adventure. Engaging in identity work not only strengthens your sense of self but has also been correlated with improved recovery outcomes.
Remember: you are strong, you are worthy, and you are more than your eating disorder.
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Other Mental Health Services Offered in PA, NJ, DE, SC, MD, CT, and FL
We offer a wide variety of services related to eating disorder recovery including trauma therapy! We offer Weekly Support Groups, Nutrition Services, and Family and Parent Therapy as well as Coaching, all tailored to meet the specific needs of the individual. We offer our services for Anorexia, Bulimia, Binge Eating, and Orthorexia as well as Maternal Mental Health, and eating disorder therapy for athletes online in New Jersey, Delaware, South Carolina, Maryland, Florida, and Connecticut! We are here to offer our support and understanding in a safe and non-judgmental environment.
We have immediate openings right now for eating disorder therapy in:
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Recovered and Restored is an eating disorder therapy center founded by Gabrielle Morreale, LPC. We specialize in helping teens and young women heal from eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, orthorexia, and binge eating disorder and treat disordered eating, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. We provide eating disorder therapy in the towns of Horsham, Upper Gwynedd, Lower Gwynedd, North Wales, Lansdale, Hatfield, Blue Bell, Doylestown, and nearby towns with eating disorder therapy. Also providing virtual eating disorder therapy in New Jersey, Delaware, and Florida. Some towns served virtually but are not limited to Pittsburg, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Center City, Cherry Hill, Haddonfield, Mount Laurel, Cape May, Avalon, Brick, Dover, New Castle, Bethany Beach, Marydel, and Oceanview
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