Well, it is now February making it eating disorder awareness
month. I am writing this post not to spread awareness per say, but to talk
about why people are taking this out of context. As I log on to Facebook and
scroll through my newsfeed all I see are pictures, pictures of people showing
themselves at their “worst.” Pictures of
emaciated girls, self-harm scars, and feeding tube pictures. I don’t think this
portrays awareness at all. Number one, it displays the myth that you need to be
severely emaciated to be sick or have a problem. Number two, people are
starting a silent war of who can or did become the sickest. It is doing the
exact opposite, it is promoting eating disorders to show these disturbing pictures.
I feel as though people are glamorizing this deadly disease. They are wearing
it as a badge of honor, or a badge of strength. Which is the exact opposite. When
one has an eating disorder, they are not strong because they can refuse food,
by this point they are weak. They are weak because the disorder now controls them,
they don’t control it. It becomes easier not to eat than it is to eat.
I for
one will not be showing pictures of me at my worst because frankly, it is not
getting the message around, it could be teaching young girls to strive for this
which is lastly what I would want. And in all honesty, me at my worst, was not
me at my lowest weight. At my lowest weight, I had more energy and normalcy
than I do now, at a bit of a higher weight, yet I can no longer walk due to
medical complications and its hard work trying to re learn to walk. I have
friends who have died at “NORMAL” weights or even overweight. Posting these
pictures is making people with eating disorders who do not look emaciated feel
like they are not sick enough and therefor are undeserving of treatment, which
is the farthest thing from the truth. I am asking you all to join me in this
movement to not follow the rest of the community who are engaging in war
stories. Instead, why don’t we make a list of all the great things we can now
do because we are in recovery.
