Girls wellness project

Looking beyond the mirror

Hi, my name is Sara. From an outsider’s perspective, I look like your typical teenage girl. I go to school, I enjoy playing sports, and hanging out with my friends. I love to do my makeup and scroll on social media when i’m bored. Seems pretty normal right? Well, a few months back I wanted to begin eating slightly healthier and cut out excess sugar and “unhealthy” foods in my diet. This started off normal and I felt healthy and happy with the way my body looked and felt. Slowly, it became worse and worse every day. I began cutting things out of my diet extremely quickly. If I went one singular day without granola, then I decided from then on I didn’t need to add it back into my diet. This mentality dug me into a deep hole, which became extremely difficult to climb out of. After a few months of unhealthy weight loss and eating habits, I was taken to the doctor by my very concerned parents. They knew I needed help, but I kept denying it because I didn’t want to get better. I was constantly tired and was always cold. I had little to no fat on my body and had lost my period. My doctor diagnosed me with anorexia nervosa. I felt an immediate shock hit my body after hearing my doctor diagnose me. I had realized in that moment that all of my “commitment” was about to go to waste, and I had no choice but to recover. I felt like I was losing all control of my life and body. At home, I looked in the mirror and began criticizing myself. Negative thoughts raced when I looked at my reflection, because all I saw was imperfections. But, what is “perfect”? Perfect doesn’t exist. The word perfect is an excuse that our mind makes up and uses to justify our insecurities. “She doesn’t have a stomach like mine. She’s so perfect. I need to change”. Our insecurities and image of ourselves feeds off the ideal that we come up with in our mind when we begin to compare ourselves to others. There is no “perfection” in life. Everyone is created differently and given a life to live for themselves, not others. When I began to change my body and stop eating, I was far from perfect. My perfect is the body i’m given naturally. The body that can keep me laughing, walking, running, socializing, and more. My body is able to function only if it stays at its perfect equilibrium. When the body functions get thrown off, so do we. I fell further and further away from my body’s perfect state. It takes a lot in someone to become self aware and improve their state of well-being. In fact, recovering from anorexia is way more difficult than people perceive it to be. Focusing on maintaining your OWN state of perfection is what will keep your body and mind flourishing. Your mind cannot decide what is best itself when it has so many contradicting thoughts running back and fourth. But, if you look past the reflection that you see, your body will begin to form perfection on its own. Soon, you will reach your healthy, happy, and flourishing state. The more you let your mind’s perception of yourself control your life, the less control you have. By recovering, you gain so much freedom and control that your eating disorder took away from you. With the Girls Wellness Project, you can recover and become the best version of yourself. Visit our main page and make your submission. 🙂