(written after Day 2 of last week’s NEDA Conference)
The breakfasts at the NEDA conference have been amazingly awesome. Yesterday was Monica Seles, and today I ate with a group of NEDA Walk coordinators from around the country; from Seattle to Philadelphia and many points in between.
I picked up lots of pointers for next year, and met some wonderfully dedicated women. It was therapeutic to compare notes about some of the challenges associated with putting on the walks.
The very best part of the NEDA conference is the stories of the people here, including:
A young woman whose partner had a terrifying relapse — she struggled to understand and to successfully advocate for her through multiple hospitalizations; A dad whose young son is being treated for severe anorexia and is routinely met with disbelief that a boy can be afflicted; a middle-aged man who spoke of his decades-long struggle that went un-diagnosed for most of his life; The young woman who cannot find treatment in her state; the dad who intellectually understands, but cannot emotionally get his head around why his daughter won’t eat; the young woman who clawed her way to recovery against difficult odds.
Then there is the woman whose story paralleled my own in treating her anorexic teen daughter. She shared some post-recovery insights from her daughter that rang true with me:
- “Thank you for loving me enough to let me hate you” (during refeeding).
- “Recovery is hard. Choosing recovery is even harder; parents may need to choose recovery for you, until you can choose it for yourself”.
So – right now I’m inspired and worn out and wondering what on earth I’m going to do for breakfast tomorrow!