Welcome to My World; Supporting someone with an eating disorder

It can be so exhausting to be a supporter for someone struggling with an eating disorder, but if nothing else, just be a support, just letting someone know that you are there to fight along side with them to figure things out together is of the utmost importance, just as important as maintaining your own emotional, mental and physical support. 

There are so many people who apparently thunk its their special job to tell us what we should be doing, who we should vote for and how to raise our kids. And when those we are trying to support through an eating disorder gets upset they will jump right in and tell us what think of us; thats none of our buisness and therefore we ought not take it personally, it is the eating disorder talking and not our loved ones.

What happens when you cant leave your home and you and your loved one, your partner or your child are at odds, what happens when one of you has an eating disorder? This can be a trying time for everyone but there is indeed help out there for folks even if it's not in person, face to face.

Why Can't we all get along...no seriously, it never ceases to amaze me how protective treatment facilities are about their statistics and their programs and not wanting to work with other programs to attain better health both physical and mental for those seeking help.

As difficult as it is, when we find out, when we learn either on our own or by their own mouths, that our children, our loved ones are struggling and even self harming, we may need to just let them fight their fight, but it does not mean we ought not check in with them, in fact we need to let them know how much we care and support them.

Did you know that federally funded research programs designate only $ .93 per person affected by eating disorders compared to $44.00 per person for programs such as autism research?

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just let go of our hurt, of our disdain and just be there for our loved ones, our children, our partners? We can ya know, we all can. Realizing that everyone of us sees things from our own individual perspective and that for that reason no-one's own knowledge of an event is wrong, that their account of what happened is just as valid as their feelings, it is derived from their perspective and thats OK. So let's practice letting go, there are few gifts to those we love than to validate and accept their perspective on something, the way something happened and letting them know that we respect that. When we do that we can then fully and whole-fully support them and focus on what they need and what we can do to help them. 

What legacy will you leave behind? Webster's Dictionary defines Legacy as, "anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor". What valued lesson(s), personal knowledge or experiences will you pass on to your children, grandchildren?

At Living Proof MN we have partnered with Acres for Life. The work these people are doing at Acres for Life is astounding and beautiful, I implore tyou to look them up and say hi from Shira and Tracy from Living Proof MN. 

What the folks ate Acres for Life in Forest Lake are doing for veterans, law enforcement officers, those suffering with PTSD and struggling with eating disorders is astounding and beautiful.  Do yourself a favor and take a look at Acres for Life at www.acresforlife.org