(Other people's) Kids help

I'm discovering good influences come in all shapes and sizes. While I want to maintain recovery momentum without the influence of others, I cannot trust myself and myself alone just yet.

Something that's really surprised me on this beach vacation is the impact hanging out with kids can have. My little teammates have been instrumental in getting me through this week so far and the best part is, they're so oblivious about what's going on. While the adults drink on the beach, we collect shells and string together jewelry. When I want to leave a lot of food on my dinner plate, I see an 8-year old watching me with reverence. When I want to skip breakfast, I see the plate of fresh fruit prepared by that same 8-year old, up since 7:36 am, and who am I to say no?

It's amazing how comfortable I am with my afternoon snack of homemade trail mix, hand picked with input from my girls. Of course, it's delicious, and knowing I made this with a little girl who would never expect me to be afraid of eating it, nevertheless throw it up, helps me tremendously. Considering others actually helps me.

And now for the trail mix (granola, banana chips, raisins, craisins, cashews, and walnuts) and, of course, a mug o' joe.

Prioritize recovery

Happy Memorial Day! It's a beautiful long weekend to spend in the beaches of North Carolina for sure. P's awesome (sober) sister arrived this morning and the energy is great. I finally have a sober comrade, besides the dope little 2 and 8-year old nieces.

Most importantly, I'm feeling so damn good and positive here with this family. I think it's because they are so much like me. They have issues, and they're real about it. P's mom and I had a 30 minute conversation this morning about therapy and the grief counseling group she goes to. My dad, on the other hand, cries about his failure as a parent because both his girls take meds and have therapists. Earth to papa - our way of denying problems to project that I'm fine, got none of us nowhere.

On account of realizing how much I love feeling well, connecting with fine folks, and taking it easy, I decided to let myself stay an extra day. I'm choosing to prioritize myself and my well-being over school and work that can, in reality, be done right here on this beach. I have never placed myself, my significant other, and/or my family over school and work success, but it's time to start taking advantage of people and places that impact me in a positive way.

I'm happy to be here. And today, I'm happy to be me, and not this guy...

Excited about food

There's something about taking time away from your normal routine that eliminates the usual urgency and anxiety of life. On vacation with P's family, great folks that I've only spent one weekend with before now, I do not feel the self-imposed pressure or rigidity that normally suffocates my recovery.

Instead, I wake up and run and then slow down for the rest of the day. I do not feel compelled to run more or exercise, and walk only for enjoyment. I eat what I want, when I want and do not want to purge. I have no feelings of needing to prove myself by living up to the bar I set so high that nobody would reasonably expect anyway. I feel at peace with myself and with this family.

Is it the time away from work? Is it my recovery finally kicking in? What's making the difference here? Perhaps it's the perspective I gain in examining how my behaviors would appear those I want to make a good impression on. I do find that once I feel comfortable around a person, I don't care if they think I'm crazy. I don't care that they hear me purge, see me walk for miles, or know that plate full of salad is restriction.

Instead, I'm on my best behavior. But because I am not overexercising, I am not purging, I am not worried about my body in a bikini or what people will think about the amount of peanuts I eat, I do not have urges. I don't want to purge, I want to eat. I am excited to plan what's for dinner tonight and find myself anticipating the proposed sea bass and asparagus. I do not restrict today because of the bite of steak I tried and P's sweet potato I finished last night. I just, do not. And by not doing, I'm doing so much.

I'm happy here. And it's a feeling I haven't had in a long time.

Vacation 2.0

The last vacation I took a month or so ago didn't exactly go off with a bang. I was really disappointed that even going to the beach, something I love more than anything, could be hard for me.

With a solid foundation of progress though, I feel great this time. I'm here with P's family and while I get the sense they all have their reservations about crazy Cakies as P calls me, I am having a great time. We arrived yesterday after midnight and slept in late today so I'm well rested, well fed, and feeling like this is where I belong.

We've spent all day at the beach this morning and afternoon, and I'm the lone ranger here now. I just took a short beach walk and feel a certain sense of calm that I rarely ever feel in a bikini. I think I'm finally letting go of my body image issues and realizing that every blemish, hair, and stretch mark is unique, not sometime to take care of. If I can continue learning to love my body, perhaps I can continue to love myself.

We're here until Tuesday and my goals are to (or course) stay sober and not purge a single time. So far, so good!

Happy memorial day weekend, y'all!

Family

I have a 19 year old "little" sister who just moved to Atlanta for the summer this weekend. She's only been here two full days, but I already feel closer to her and less like a mess overall.

Sis is a division 1 college swimmer and one heck of an athlete. She's also not an alcoholic and does not have an eating disorder, to my knowledge. I am 7 years older than my sister, so we've never had anything like an adult friendship throughout our life. I'm hoping now that both of our issues are out in the open, we can really help each other in our respective recoveries.

The reason my sister moved down to Atlanta for the summer is to escape from a bad breakup. I am one to talk, but I certainly don't advocate for running from your problems. I know I use my eating disorder, exercise, and alcohol abuse to numb my problems away, but that gets you nowhere. I fear that she's using the same strategy of avoidance to sweep her issues under the table, ignore them for a while, and hope they resolve. I'm at somewhat of a loss in knowing how to help her, especially given the fact that P pointed out she ran away from her life to me.

A me who can't get her own life together and is a far cry from stable. I do feel an innate sense of responsibility to be strong for her though. To set a good example. To be the older sister for once. I know that my head in a toilet is not the example I am shooting for.

I'm so happy she's here though, and in some way I suspect she's also here to keep me in line. That's the first display of real care and concern from anyone in my family, outside of money and words. Kudos to her for having the courage to step outside of her life and integrate into mine.

I am proud

Its Monday again already and a lot of significant things happened this weekend. First, P came home on Friday from being out of town and he actually wanted to go out for dinner! I expected him to want to do a whole bunch of nothing since he'd been working across the country all week, but he brought up going out.

We went to a nice brewery/restaurant that I've always loved for the food and beer, but haven't been to sober. Everything was great at the start - P felt comfortable drinking which I was more than fine with, and I ordered a virgin sparkling grapefruit cocktail. It was delicious and gave me courage to order a seitan pita for my entree.

Unfortunately, I am in recovery from an eating disorder and alcoholism. The waiter brought a surprise third drink to our table about halfway through and set it right in front of me. I still had half a mocktail left and P had finished his same drink (with booze) ages ago. As that drink sat there and stared me in the face, it hit me how damn easily I could lose my sobriety - how available and willing alcohol is for me to consume. I could have easily sipped on this mystery drink, omitting it was clearly alcoholic to P, and gone (downhill) from there. Instead, I gathered my wits and excused myself as P began drilling me about who I knew in the bar that bought me this drink, not even acknowledging the alcohol sitting right by my left hand.

This did not sit well with me, so I told him i was struggling. He reacted by becoming angry and indicating it was such a nice dinner until I ruined it. Showing, again, so that, as I'm using my voice more and more, P will have to accept I'm not always okay. We collected ourselves and went home and I did something I've never done - texted my sponsor. Even though it was pushing 11:30, she sent me a perfect response, giving me the courage to realize it's okay to struggle, to need help, and to need.

Saturday was a great day from the get-go, it was only during the evening when I returned to P's after AA, room cleaning, and laundry that things deteriorated. I won't go into details, but I'll tell you it was a struggle. I am so, so proud to say though, around 1am, after using every tool and strategy I've learned through AA and Renfrew, I couldn't lay in bed and listen to P and his friend playing video games and taking shots any longer than the 7 hours I'd already done so. Somehow, I found the courage to go home, despite the fact that I would have had a 100% chance of binging and purging for the rest of the night at any other time in my life. P walked me outside and I was able to clearly express my frustration and worry that perhaps we don't work when I'm sober. We hugged and I left and I did not even have the urge to binge, purge, or do anything but treat myself to a nights sleep in my own awesome bed!

This is tremendous progress for me and I'm ecstatic to find myself succeeding more on my own than through my codependency with P. This is recovery.

Bring it on new week!

Little things

Something I've never been good at doing is prioritizing myself and my needs. I'm very good at taking care of others and making sure everything goes off without a hitch. I still think it's fine and dandy to take care of others, especially because it makes me feel really good, but I will often neglect myself. Instead of even considering what I might want or need, others consistently come first and I wind up exhausted, lonely, and detached from myself. 

Todat after my neighborhood walk, chores, and a little bit of dissertation work, I decided to paint my toenails. As a runner, I should absolutely make this a priority to hide the bruises, blisters, and calluses that comprise my feet. But I often have no time for little things like slapping two coats of neon orange polish on those bad boys. Something as simple as painting my toenails, which is really a manifestation of self-care, is such a help. It gives me time with me - without P, my friends, my sponsor, and all of my growing list of obligations. Most importantly, by taking care of myself and prioritizing me, I find some relief from the eating disorder and addiction.

I highly recommend taking time to do you this weekend. It's worth so much more than presentable feet.