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Self-love is a beautiful, freeing thing to have. It’s incredible to feel comfortable in your skin and confident in your abilities. Anyone in recovery from an eating disorder can benefit from reaching a place of self-love or even self-neutrality.
You’re probably familiar with the saying about needing to fill your own cup before you can fill the cups of others. If you don’t know how to practice self-compassion and caring for your own needs, though, how can you fill your cup?
It takes time and practice to reach a place where you feel at ease and okay with yourself. You might think it’s impossible to learn how to discover self-love or self-neutrality in eating disorder recovery but you can do it. What are some actions you can take to cultivate love and understanding for yourself?
Surround yourself with supportive friends and family
In the beginning, your self-love practice, your inner monologue is probably filled with a lot of hurtful, negative things. Building a solid support system is one of the most important things you can do when practicing self-love. Your supportive friends and family will surround you with love and understanding. They’ll remind you of all the positive truths about yourself as you start your journey to discover self-love in eating disorder recovery.
Recognize and validate your feelings
Denying your emotions means denying your reality. How many times have you told yourself you shouldn’t be feeling a certain way? Denying your feelings is a harmful practice and identifying and accepting your feelings is overwhelming at first. But learning to recognize and validate them is critical if you want to cultivate self-love. Allowing yourself to feel things, even when those feelings are uncomfortable, is a good way to discover self-love in eating disorder recovery.
Practice acting on or asking for others to meet your needs
There’s nothing wrong with having needs; every single person in the world has them. But after years of neglecting your emotions and needs, acting on or asking for others to meet them sounds like an impossible challenge. You’re allowed to have needs and it’s okay to ask for what you need from others. The more you practice meeting your own needs, as well as asking others to, the more confident you become. You’re recognizing yourself instead of denying yourself
Put some space between you and social media
Social media use is at an all-time high and it’s likely not coincidental that self-love seems to be at an all-time low. Scrolling endlessly through curated feeds is enough to make anyone feel like they aren’t good enough. It’s never a bad idea to take a step back from social media. If you have a problem with compulsive social media use, it might be time to give yourself some space from the digital world. Cutting social media use is one of the best ways to discover self-love in eating disorder recovery.
Keep a gratitude journal
Practicing gratitude builds a solid foundation for self-love and appreciation for the world around you. Start keeping a gratitude journal and recognize all the things around you that you’re grateful for. If you want to cultivate self-love, an even better way to use your gratitude journal is to turn your focus inward. What are some things about yourself that you’re grateful for? Recognize positive things about yourself as part of this practice.
Learn your self-love language
Have you ever heard of the five love languages? They’re a way for you to recognize ways you prefer receiving and showing love and affection with your partner. As part of your journey to discover self-love in eating disorder recovery, though, learn your love languages and practice them with yourself. Find out how you prefer to receive love then offer that love to yourself.
Take yourself on a date
This might sound a bit silly but taking yourself on a date is a good way to discover self-love in eating disorder recovery. Learning to do things for yourself and go places on your own will do wonders for your confidence. Buy yourself some flowers. Cook a meal at home or take yourself out to dinner. Head out for an activity that you enjoy like going to a movie or on a bike ride. Taking yourself on a date helps you realize that you’re worth your love.
Give yourself room to make mistakes
You’re not going to find yourself in a place of acceptance and self-love right away. It takes time to discover self-love in eating disorder recovery. Perfectionism is a false idea to chase after, anyways. When you give yourself room to make mistakes, the path to self-love opens up wide and takes the pressure off of you. It’s okay to make mistakes and stumble along the way; that’s part of the process.
Seek help if you need it
There’s nothing wrong with seeking additional help on the path to self-love in eating disorder recovery. Your condition might require assistance from a professional eating disorder treatment facility. Reaching out can make a difference in your self-love journey.
Facilities like Magnolia Creek are here to help you lay a strong foundation for a life of recovery. Our treatment programs provide solutions for anyone trying to escape the grips of their eating disorder. To learn more about what we offer, reach out to us today!
