This week on Real Talk with Rachael, I'm chatting with Calvin Burns. Calvin is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Austin, Texas, who is deeply committed to guiding individuals through their challenges with eating disorders, substance abuse, and trauma. His approach is built on a foundation of empathy, understanding, and a personal dedication to each client's journey.

Key Points from Our Conversation:

• Calvin struggled with suicide and addiction until God blessed him with the opportunity to walk away from it, but walking away wasn't easy. Stopping his addiction felt like a significant loss, but the truth is the addiction was blocking what God had in store for him. 
• If you have chosen addictions that help you numb the hard things you're facing, choosing to stop will come with a lot of complex feelings. It's important to anchor yourself to things that have been proven true, right, and trustworthy.
• Calvin began his career counseling individuals with alcohol addiction but soon noticed similar thought processes in people who struggled with eating disorders and body image. When we face hardships, it's easier to numb through a variety of addictions rather than process our thoughts and feelings. It can be more complicated when it comes to food addiction as you can't avoid eating like you would other substances.

• Disordered eating is a pattern of eating habits or an approach to food that is inconsistent or driven by insecurity, fear, or uncertainty. Disordered eating is the first stage of an eating disorder when those insecurities become identity.

• Behind most men struggling with eating disorders is a fear of weakness. Their value gets distorted and they believe that their strength is their worth. But it's not limited to men. Both men and women struggle because of a desire to be in control or desired, sometimes it's an attempt at emotional management, and other times it can be a struggle to ask for help.
• If there is a man in your life struggling with body image issues, be consistent and direct in addressing him about it. 
• If you are struggling with body image, it can get better. You can have a life where you enjoy yourself and your body. When you can be present in your life, your relationships will be better.
• Community and support are crucial when you're working to change your thought processes around body image. You will not always have the internal motivation you need to succeed.
• If you see that someone you love would benefit from counseling, practicing vulnerability yourself is a great invite for them to feel comfortable opening up.
• Men can feel that showing emotions is a sign of weakness, but true strength is acknowledging what’s wrong and the willingness to do something about it. Change offers growth, opportunity, and momentum.
• Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope, and hope doesn’t lead us to shame. Our hope in a good God that loves us and is for us is everything.

   

Let’s Get Real Practical:

What suffering have you endured? Have you allowed Jesus as your high priest to embed hope in your heart in the darkest situation?

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