In this month's Cosmopolitan magazine, which hit the stands today, there is a 50 page 'Body Love' special packed full of information from what your body wishes you'd eat to cramp advice, body myths, workout tips and high profile women openly discussing their past issues with their bodies and how they overcame them.
Among these women is Erica Bartle, editor of girlwithasatchel.com, who admits to having suffered from an eating disorder. "I lost my physical, emotional and mental equilibrium along with my curves, self respect and friends. I'm lucky not to have lost my life," she says.
What struck me about Erica's story is how she describes the healing process on three levels - "mind, body and spirit" - and that she sought the support of a spiritual healing group to promote faith and peace of mind on her journey back to full health.
In my experience, recovery can become a complicated process if you don't want it for yourself first and foremost. Only you can love yourself and trust yourself enough to let go of the eating disorder and have faith that letting go will ultimately bring you happiness and peace. Once that self-love is firmly established, support from family and friends, as well as those qualified to help, is of the utmost important. Additional ingredients including spiritual healing, kinesiology, acupuncture, meditation and yoga, also promote self-love and are increasingly being included as part of the recovery journey, depending on what works best for the individual.
On another note, I'm honoured to be named as a Finalist in Cosmopolitan magazine's "Fun Fearless Female" awards in the category Inspirational Role Model, alongside Erica Bartle in the Blogger category (with Sam Brett, Mia Freedman and Helen Lee). I am also happy to share the honour with Danni Watts, project officer for the Butterfly Foundation, an organisation I avidly support, who is named in the Outstanding Contribution category.
It is wonderful that women are being recognised for contributing to the community and to making a positive impact as role models and leaders, because spreading love and healing is how we will ultimately make a difference for the greater good.
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Congratulations on your nomination Melinda. We have our Butterfly wings crossed for you!
ReplyDeleteJulie
Melinda, Thank you for your generous mention of my story. What you said about "letting go" really resonated with me. Sometimes we hold onto these things (eating disorders) in the belief that if we don't have them, we will somehow lose control - they become so much a part of us that we don't know if we'll be able to function without them in our lives. Only, the truth is life gets SO much better without the inhibiting, soul-and-confidence destroying presence of eating disorder hovering over your head like a dark cloud! Peace, not control, is where it's at. Sometimes, I still struggle to let go of control - to give my day over to God knowing that whatever life throws at me I will cope with - but it's liberating to know there's light at the end of the tunnel; that you can start each day with a fresh outlook - to make the choice to be happy and treat yourself (and your body) with the respect you both SO deserve. Erica x
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