Tuesday, 22 May 2012

When to think and when to feel...


When I was ill I couldn’t think. My body was so malnourished that it didn’t have the energy: think of your body like a load of switches (e.g. thinking / keeping warm / fertility)…as food declines these switches become switched off one by one to preserve energy until you are left simply breathing, so just about staying alive.
The only way I can describe not being able to think is like when you are struggling over a really hard maths question and your brain freezes… its like this only a thousand times worse. So because of this, I couldn’t recover by thinking – I had to recover by feeling as that’s all I had to go on. I had to learn (for the first time in my life) how to really tune in to what I was feeling, and this meant acknowledging parts of me which I had ignored and suppressed for so, so long. It sounds blind – it felt blind, but it got me to where I am today.
Recovering from anorexia through years and years of therapy and finally being happy does not mean happiness every day – I get as angry / depressed /jealous / miserable as anybody… but I never ever suppress what I am feeling any more, I acknowledge everything and know that all feelings are ok. This means I have a fundamental assurance in myself and I am not afraid of myself. I am not afraid of sadness  / anger / grief, horrid though they are, and this really is an incredible reality.
I lived by feeling, I recovered by feeling, and I make decisions by feeling… and trust me life is so much better this way. Don’t go against everything you feel because of what your head is telling you… as soon as you hear a ‘but’ that’s a sure sign your head is intervening. Always go by what you really feel… what is right one day may be wrong another, but don’t live one wrong day in the hope that two wrongs will eventually make a right. If you always go with what you feel is right, then everything will always work I promise.
You wouldn’t take put your jumper on if you felt hot because you thought the sun was going to go in…wait until the sun has gone in and then put it on.

Love and warmth
Anna-Katharina

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