Introduction

I have written on-line for a year and a half, but I am new to the blogging world.  I'd like to begin with an introduction and set my purpose for this blog. 

I intend this blog to be a place of recovery and healing.  I've been in recovery from an eating disorder for as long as I've written on-line, and I'm thankfully in the latter stages.  I've come through a lot, and while I get so much out of my running communication with others in various stages of recovery, I would like this blog to be a place where I can share my journey, story, perspective, and HOPE.  ♥ 

Recovering from an eating disorder is an extremely difficult process.  It's not simply about learning to chew and swallow.  It's not just about learning to love ourselves.  It also encompasses issues of perfectionism, control, learning to be open and honest and vulnerable.  It means learning how to ask for, and accept, help.  It means finding out who we are, learning to appreciate our uniqueness, feeling, honoring, and expressing our emotions, and most of all, truly living. 

I don't consider myself a "recovered" person...  But I am certainly well on my way.  I am recovering and growing in so many ways.  I constantly hear praise for my improvements and wonderment from others that perceive my journey to have been "easier" than others'.  That is neither an accurate nor healthy assumption.  My journey has been harder than many, and easier than some.  Comparing does not benefit anyone...  We all experience our own particular stew of events, emotions, and internalizations.  These experiences, coupled with our individual personalities, work together to create our world and self views.  I do not wish, nor could I, begin to represent the experience of those with eating disorders.  It is my sincere wish to represent my own, in hopes that the sharing will offer hope to others, as much as it will empower me.  ♥