Topic Tuesday: Recovery

“Recovery” (By: Amanda Moulchin)

Having recovered from an eating disorder is a phenomenal experience and forever life changing in a great way. I find myself getting involved with different organizations and being open about my eating disorder, for there are still many who are unaware. Recovery is not easy and it is a huge step, although, it may be depicted as a simple decision. I was lucky enough to have a tremendous amount of support from my mom, dad, sister, friends, teammates, and coaches.

“How is having an eating disorder life changing?” is a question that I get asked a lot. For me, my recovery was a long process and it felt like it was going by so slow. I honestly never thought that I would recover and that I would be stuck with this illness for the rest of my life. Through recovery, I learned so much about myself, as well as others; from learning to love my body, and myself to appreciating how much my family really does for me. I would love to write about all of the life lessons that I learned through my recovery but that would take up too many pages. One story seems to stick out to me the most.

While cleaning my room before going to the doctor like the reckless teen that I was, I stumbled upon a frame that my grandpa had gotten me. It was the Footprints in the Sand poem and to my dismay; I read the poem and started to cry because I realized that I could relate to this poem. “During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you”, that particular line seemed to really stand out to me because I was always asking to get better but would keep staying the same or getting worse. Through all of my struggles that I went through, He was carrying me through them and led me to finding the strength to recover. I actually have that line tattooed on my ribcage as a reminder.

It may seem like you are stuck in the same place at times, but believe me, you are making progress and getting stronger everyday. I look back on my recovery as a story of struggle with determination that led to success and I will never get tired of sharing my success. I will forever remember the day when I slowly dragged my feet behind my mom in the hospital, for it was the day my life would change and the day I left something behind.

About the Author

Amanda is graduating from Valparaiso University this May with a Psychology Major with minor in Disability Studies in Behavior Analysis and has plans to attend graduate school at Valparaiso University for School Psychology. She is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. She has struggled with anorexia for 8 years and her experience will the illness has made her who she is today.