If your expectations of eating disorder recovery aren’t realistic, you might end up feeling frustrated or discouraged. Here’s how to examine and replace unhelpful recovery “shoulds.”
perfectionism
A Potential Flaw in Positive Thinking Psychology
There’s a lot of talk these days about positive thinking and how important it is to change your thinking to improve your health and happiness. And while I won’t argue that our mindset affects our feelings and behavior (because I believe it absolutely does), I am concerned that we can put too much emphasis on …
When Recovery Is One More Way to Beat Yourself Up
Most people with eating disorders struggle with perfectionism… and that certainly includes how they approach the recovery process. Is that you? Do you hold perfectionist standards for what recovery should look like and how long it should last? These standards are based less on the reality of recovery and more on the unhealthy expectations of …
I Want to Be Happier… Now What?
Last post, I talked about how becoming happier starts with a decision to choose happiness. Maybe it sounds lame and you’re thinking, who wouldn’t choose to be happy? But there are a lot of reasons we choose to be miserable instead… denying responsibility, side-stepping the discomfort of change, avoiding the anxiety of the unknown, being unwilling …
The First Step to Being Happy
Some of us just never really seem to find or hang on to happiness for long. And yet there are some people who are happy even when life is really hard. During our lifetime, we will, without question, experience heartbreak or undeserved tragedies. No one is immune; suffering is an unavoidable part of the human condition. …
Try This Technique to Avoid Body Comparing
It is so hard to look at people in the media and not compare ourselves. Sometimes without even noticing it, we start taking note of how “perfect” someone else looks as well as of all the ways we don’t measure up to that. “I’m so out of shape…I wish my stomach was that flat…I want …
Recovery Takes Time
When I’m reading a really good book, I can’t wait to get to the ending. Sometimes I have to stop myself from peeking. I enjoy the whole book, but the end of the story is the satisfying part because whatever struggle and suffering the characters endured, things are finally resolved and they are going to …
Are You a Highly Sensitive Person?
The word “sensitive” has a lot of connotations to it—many of which are not flattering. So often it has the unspoken “too” attached to it…meaning, that you take things personally or are overly emotional. Perhaps these are true at times, but there is much more to it than that. And it’s not all bad. First, …
9 Questions to See if Your Perfectionism is Hurting You
For most of us who have it, perfectionism is probably both a blessing and a curse. The obvious upside is that perfectionism is associated with exceptional performance and achievement. Perfectionists tend to be driven to do whatever it takes to meet the high standards they set. But there are drawbacks to perfectionism too. In a …
Letting Go Is So Cliché
We’ve all heard the phrase “let it go’ so often, it’s easy to gloss over. I almost yawned typing it. And yet, living it out is so much more than a feel-good catchphrase. It’s profound and painful… and utterly life-changing. There are two parts to this Letting Go Lesson, and today I’ll focus on the first. It’s about …
