Curiosity in Eating Disorder Recovery.
Having recently made more progress in recovery – in being able to make changes – eat more, accept weight gain at any rate and generally feel more relaxed and determined on putting in the necessary recovery action, I have been evaluating what it is that has changed in my approach.
One area I will speak more about in a future post is having adopted a ‘resigned to recovery’ mindset, which has helped.
The other mindset I have been using is to approach recovery and necessary recovery action with curiosity.
Asking the question… ‘what will happen if….’ :
Whether this is if I eat x amount every day or if I eat x type of food or if I rest much more or if I aim to gain 10 kg in a week!!
What will happen if I take a risk in recovery that my eating disorder really really screams at me not to?
I have begun to see the more extreme recovery approach I am currently adopting as if it is an experiment… a scientific experiment if you like in which the plan is my method and I carry out the approach for a set period of time and then evaluate the outcomes.
The method must not be diverted from and in carrying out the experiment, I am in charge of executing it and I am incredibly curious as to what the results might be!
I am not sure why, but somehow this approach is helping me make the changes that previously I found too terrifying to commit to, no matter how much I wanted to.
In adopting a scientific or almost childlike curiosity to recovery, feeling excitement at the possible outcomes, I feel I have taken the ‘what is the worse that could happen’ question many use, one step further… Perhaps putting a more positive spin on it…
Rather than be curious about what the worse is that could happen, adopt curiosity into what is the best that could happen… or even just a neutral fascination with the future shape of life if a new recovery approach were adopted?
Of course, this mindset won’t work for everyone, but if you have never tried it then give it a go – it helps me and maybe it will you too!
RECOVERING NOMAD 