It’s been a tough week. My depression has gotten worse and my powers of concentration have shot to hell. I haven’t been able to keep up with the blogs I subscribe to, nor have I been able to compose a new post of my own till now.

I don’t have any pearls of wisdom or sage advice to give. I decided to scroll over my blog and I looked at the section of favorite recovery quotes and it hasn’t given me a little hope.

I hate myself right now. It’s really hard to love myself. I’m in recovery for anorexia and I’ve gained weight, which I’m supposed to do, but it isn’t easy. I hate the way I look right now. The food obsession has made us go above our target weight and I feel so fat that I can’t stand being in my skin. I have no clothes that fit. I tried on five different outfits this morning and they all fit too tightly. I look frumpy and I feel like a failure for that.

On the flip side, I know this is temporary. I must make an attempt to not give in to the negative self-talk and urges to self-harm. I must make a concerted effort to continue to build up self-esteem, and not continuously degrade myself.

I’m putting my hope in a new psychho-iatrist that will hopefully do a better job in managing my meds and in my dietician who has designed a good meal plan for my needs and desires.

I was looking at the recovery quotes I have posted on this blog and it reads, “Sucess is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.”

No matter what we are recovering from, whether it’s a dissociative disorder, an eating disorder, bipolar disorder, or any other mental illness, the truth is the same for all of us: there are no quick fixes. Recovery comes only with repeated effort and continual exertion against things that can derail our hard work.

When I was in the hospital this past February, another patient said something about recovery that I will never forget; she said for us to always protect our recovery.

I never looked at recovery as something needing protection. I never looked at recovery as an entity, a creature, or something that exists. When I look at it this way and objectify my recovery, I can then perceive it as something I have or don’t have, and I want recovery. I want to have it.

Protecting my recovery means that I have to be patient with myself. I will stumble and fall, but protecting my recovery means that I get back up and continue to try.

Protecting my recovery means being cautious about what types of media I let in my life. If I’m looking at glamour magazines and watching “entertainment” shows that depict skinny girls I’m going to fall flat on my face and lose my recovery. The media images are so distorted against women that my eating disorder will be reactivated.

I’m glad I posted the recovery quotes. They give me hope and, that is definitely what I need right now. So I will fight on. I will not let myself “stay down,” but I will pick myself up, dust myself off, and continue to work on my recovery.