Healing Can be Messy

Healing can be messy. 

Healing can be hard. 

Healing can be (and WILL be) rewarding. 

Trust me, I know. I’ve recently begun my healing journey and it can be a bit rough and involve relapses here and there. Recovery isn’t linear. You’ll slip up every now and then… and that’s completely normal! You’ve just got to pick yourself up and keep trying to move forward. Put one foot in front of the other. 

What helps me is focusing on my goals. I would LOVE to become a mental health advocate and study mental health! I have big goals and small goals. Those big ones are amazing to have but it’s those little ones that help me get through most of the tougher times. For example, I have struggled with my eating. I have my big goals of wanting to be healthy, enjoy walks, not worry about calories… And they’re great end goals, however, I can’t just click my fingers and be there right now (although I wish I could). It’s a bit of a work in progress and often it can feel daunting and like it’ll be easier to go backwards so I set myself smaller goals to go with it. Recently, one of mine was to be well enough to see my grandparents (they live in a different city) and attend my aunt’s big party. This was only maybe a month away at the time so it seemed like a nice easy goal to achieve and it was rewarding at the same time! This gave that extra motivation to not go back to eating disorder behaviours. 

Another thing that helps me heal is positive quotes. I have heaps that I love to recite to myself/read when I’m finding it a bit harder. I’m a creative person so I tend to create some paintings and put quotes on them to place on my wall or somewhere in my room. I also have positive sayings on a whiteboard that a few support people have written! Some of my favourite quotes are “Everything happens for a reason. If you can dream it, you can do it. Faith over fear,” and “There’s a reason why you’ve survived all this.” I also keep hearing on social media about how older me won’t care about how I look now and neither will the future people I meet BUT I will care if I’ve let my thoughts stop me from doing the things I love and enjoy! 

“Today you are you, that is truer than true, there is no one alive who is you-er than you!” 

I encourage you to focus on your goals and to create smaller, easier-to-achieve ones that help you take the steps forward that you want to take! It’s going to be hard at times, that’s just how life works unfortunately, BUT it will be beyond worth it when you achieve the goals - both big and small! 

I also encourage you to try finding some positive quotes that you resonate with, that give you that extra boost of motivation to keep working towards your healing journey. 

You are beyond special and deserve all the good that’s coming your way! 

Keep fighting, 

You’ve got this! 

All my love, 

-Zara