Do you have to wait for relapse thoughts to make positive actions?

by Char, posted in Health

Answer: No.

 

I was recently watching an auto-play on Youtube about mental health and psychology and a video came on discussing ‘To The Bone’ (the Netflix movie about EDs that was both good and disgusting). This video itself wasn’t triggering, it didn’t upset me and it was well done making points I agreed with and had never considered.

BUT. It did make me want to watch To The Bone. and this is where my question comes in… I consider myself recovered. I didn’t want to watch the film for negative reasons. and I was 90% sure it wouldn’t have a drastically negative effect on me.

But I had to think properly and clearly. It’s a well-known fact that eating disorders are sneaky as shit and regardless of whether someone feels truly recovered if you don’t continuously work on staying in that place, I do believe it could come back. So I did the ‘opposite action’. I watched Embrace – a body positive beautiful documentary. Not because I had relapse thoughts, not even because I thought I might, but because it was a healthier decision. Because it reminded me to ensure I don’t let that sneaky pain in the arse back into my life. And because I had probably even more fun watching Embrace than I would’ve had critically evaluating To The Bone.

You can always make positive changes. You can always work to make your life more positive. You don’t need to be in a bad place to better yourself.

10 thoughts on “Do you have to wait for relapse thoughts to make positive actions?”

  2. Love this! It is so true – you can always make recovery-based decisions when you identify as being recovered. For example, when I am recovered, I am not going to go and follow a ton of Victoria’s secret models on instagram just because I am intrigued about they are posting. Regardless of how recovered I am- if it isn’t going to aid my mental well-being in anyway, then I’ll pass on it.

    I’ll also add that, having watched ‘To the Bone’, imho it is garbage and there is no reason any person with an ED or ED history should watch it. Quite frankly, it still angers me when I think about the irresponsibility of whoever was involved/ Lily Collins losing so much weight for the role, with her history of anorexia. Gah!

    Rant aside, LOVE Embrace so much! xxx

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    1. Exactly – it’s always so important to actively work on your mental health! You’re so right!! I’m still contemplating reviewing it but I think it would just turn into a full-on angry rant haha! I really loved Embrace… I might watch it again soon (We should have a movie date!). Love you xxx

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  3. Great post.. I myself am recovered, whatever that means. I still get ED thoughts sometimes. Little voices telling me I need to exercise a little more, eat a bit less, look better. Whenever I notice them, I immediately try and replace them with good wholesome beliefs about myself, because it doesn’t matter what i look like, but it does matter that I’m a good, happy person.

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  4. I love the way you handled this situation. I struggled with different addictions for 25+ years. I am currently writing a book that takes a much different approach on addictions and disorders. For me i truly struggle with the disease concept of addiction. I believed in it for many years. As i got older and continued to relapse and fall into the routine of fighting to regain sobriety while beating myself up for being such a failure, I had to question the effectiveness of 12 step programs in my life. I never felt free of addiction in those programs, I was stuck in the addiction mentality every day, even in recovery, I was still an addict due to my “disease”. I was sick of that, so i searched other methods out. I found some great information on changing my thinking from multiple different sources. I implemented many of them, some good, some not so useful, but I learned from all of them. After a few slips i finally corrected my thinking to the point that i no longer consider myself an addict. I haven used drugs in years now, and all the behaviors that i chose to use to sedate as well, no longer plague me. When I start noticing a change in my behavior, I change my thinking. In my opinion that is exactly what you did here as well. Great Job, and great post!

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    1. Wow! Massive well done to you and I’m so so glad you’ve found a method that works for you – I adored the idea of changing your thoughts and it really helped me with my recovery. Thank you so much, sending all my love and support xxx

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