Eating Disorder Journaling Prompt: Valentine’s Day Edition
It is that time of year again – some call Valentine’s Day a “Hallmark Holiday” and others look forward to the love-focused day. Eating disorders are biopsychosocial and affect all aspects of life. In relation to Valentine’s Day, a day that is focused on rich food and relationships, this can bring up difficult emotions for one suffering from an eating disorder.
A journaling promp
At our practice, we like to use metaphors and analogies. Right now, we invite you to draw a large heart on a piece of paper. At the top of the heart where each arch meets, I invite you to label this point “self”. As the arches come away from the center to the widest part of the heart, think about this space being the span of your eating disorder thus far – the behaviors and experiences you have had using it. Mentally note, or physically write down on your piece of paper, what comes up for you.
In recovery, we think of this space as a replication for how the eating disorder has taken our clients away from a sense of self, or who we used to be. On the bottom of your paper, we invite you to write a list of your values in life – this can be thought of in sections of health, relationships, social life, leisure, work/education and personal growth.
Next, compare the list to the behaviors and experiences you listed above relating to your eating disorder. You may ask yourself the following questions and journal about them:
Do my values align with my eating disorder?
How is my eating disorder supporting my values?
How is my eating disorder hindering my values?
Going back to the shape of our heart. As the heart becomes more narrow and finds its way back to the bottom point of the heart where the two arches meet, this is reflective of the recovery journey – the time where we work through the experiences and behaviors that the eating disorder has provided as coping tools, yet your authentic self knows that these tools are not sustainable tools and they do not align with your values entirely. Through recovery, we challenge this idea and as one develops sustainable coping tools and utilizes them to get back to aligning with the authentic self.
This does not mean that the top point of the heart represents the same person as the bottom point of the heart. As people, we evolve and change; the eating disorder experience remains a part of your life experience and that is absolutely okay!
So, for this Valentine’s Day, we invite you to take a look at your values versus the current eating disorder behaviors and experiences and would like you to ask yourself if there is one thing you can challenge yourself with in the name of self care during recovery.
If you are looking for more support in your recovery, reach out to us today!