Unlearning Good Enough

TW: Eating Disorders

I want to see a story about someone with an eating disorder that doesn't require getting to death's door. I understand that these stories are important because they show that even those who are there can come back from it and there isn’t just a point of no return where you are too broke, too sick to recover. But they also do a lot damage. Because they perpetuate the idea of "am I sick enough yet". They teach people with eating disorders to believe that they have to be sick enough to recover. That they have to be hospitalised, to be emaciated and skeletal, that they have to be tubed, that they have to be on life support. Like their recovery has to be them overcoming it after everyone they love has had to mentally say their goodbyes. Like it has to be some kind of grand reveal or stunt to pull the healing out of the hat or find the key to unlock the bolt in the last second before the tank fills will piranhas. But it's so so dangerous because the reality is, most people who get to that point, die. Anorexia is the mental health condition with the highest death rate. More than depression, more than schizophrenia, more than anything.

People spend years telling themselves the common lie of I'll stop when I get to this point or this point or this point but the truth is, there is no sick enough, you are never sick enough and your struggle never feels bad enough, scary enough, dangerous enough, important enough to seek help and decide to get better. I understand that stories of people who chose to get better when they were a normal weight or they still had their period are not as exciting and shocking but honestly, they matter, so much more! Because they promote getting better even when people don't seem to care, when you can't control everything, even when it means no one ever took your struggle seriously. It means making one of the hardest decisions of you life on your own. Learning to think, eat, breathe, sleep again properly, on your own because people aren't scared yet. It means slowly unlearning sick enough, controlled enough, good enough, and being ok with just being good.