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Archive of Resistance: Anti-anorexia/anti-bulimia

 

© David Epston, All rights reserved

28

My Anti-anorexia so far

June 5th, 2001

Helen, aged 22

 

 

I've realized and concluded a lot and it's all in my Anti-anorexic diary.

And also what I am now seeing. I'm seeing through her and what she makes me

do. I'm coming to hate her and her torture and her lies, deception and

trickery. I guess what allows me to feel such a strong feeling towards

hating her is what I realized through opposing her. This has allowed me to

hate her. I guess it's a matter of getting fed up with her and her

pressure. I guess I started very slowly to see her through anti-anorexic

eyes and by means of the experiments, tests and discoveries, I have become

aware of her and her lies. If someones lies to you, you do hate it. Also

that 'lie' has cost me a large part of my life so far and that is hurtful

and painful to me. I do feel its important to hate her and you have to go

against her as you cannot oppose something you believe in. There is no way

you can go against someone you love, like or is your friend or who you

believe, trust, value or honour. You cannot give up or let go of something

you treasure or love. You asked me if I had to summarize everyone's advice,

counsel, etc., what would it all add up to. I think that it would be that

I have to learn to love myself that that people do care for me and love me

and that anorexia is evil, wrong, etc. Maybe the slogan could be 'Freedom!'

and that anorexia wants my prison-dom and that she wants to kill me and that

I die. She doesn't want me to have a life. There is a great deal, I guess,

to discover about anti-anorexia which I have included in my diary. But

perhaps the most important discovery was that anorexia and her practices

aren't normal and they make you lose your person, your persona, your life,

and yourself. And the wondering, questioning and asking I am doing is

important. You asked me what allowed me to change my history and turn the

corner and make a different future for myself. I guess it may have been

getting fed up, wanting space and time, perhaps a decision or commitment. I

guess when you asked what are the foundational understandings and the

'heart' of my anti-anorexia, perhaps it is the belief that I can have my own

life, and not one shaped or dictated to by anorexia. Maybe the 'heart' of

my anti-anorexia is the knowledge you can lead your own kind of life and

you are not compelled to lead an anorexic lifestyle. In fact, there is a

different kind of life and I can be anti-anorexic in living it. I know now

I won't die but at the same time it will be painful but through it, I will

learn, grow, experience change and start to lead a different kind of life.

You asked me how I formed my own ideas. I guess, maybe even for a second-

although I can't appreciate or acknowledge it, something in my mind was

telling me that I formed my own ideas as opposed to anorexia's ideas. If

you oppose her ideas, this allows room for your ideas to grow. Perhaps by

not listening to everyone else, I started listening to myself, not

anorexia's 'cluttering shit' . Or perhaps I was only listening to the ideas

of people that allowed me to form my own ideas rather than the 'cluttering

shit' that reaffirmed the picture I had of myself as 'shit'. I guess also

by practicing, I am learning from my mistakes and concluded or thought about

concluding several things. It allowed new ideas to come into my head that

perhaps were always there but had been suppressed or denied. Perhaps they

had been sown but hadn't germinated. Or perhaps they were totally new

ideas. The substance that allowed me to form, develop and de-suppress my

ideas were what I refer to as 'anti-anorexia'. Thinking against her, not

with or for her, and by seeing her and her ideas differently, has allowed me

to form different ideas about her and about me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've realized and concluded a lot and it's all in my Anti-anorexic diary.

And also what I am now seeing. I'm seeing through her and what she makes me

do. I'm coming to hate her and her torture and her lies, deception and

trickery. I guess what allows me to feel such a strong feeling towards

hating her is what I realized through opposing her. This has allowed me to

hate her. I guess it's a matter of getting fed up with her and her

pressure. I guess I started very slowly to see her through anti-anorexic

eyes and by means of the experiments, tests and discoveries, I have become

aware of her and her lies. If someones lies to you, you do hate it. Also

that 'lie' has cost me a large part of my life so far and that is hurtful

and painful to me. I do feel its important to hate her and you have to go

against her as you cannot oppose something you believe in. There is no way

you can go against someone you love, like or is your friend or who you

believe, trust, value or honour. You cannot give up or let go of something

you treasure or love. You asked me if I had to summarize everyone's advice,

counsel, etc., what would it all add up to. I think that it would be that

I have to learn to love myself that that people do care for me and love me

and that anorexia is evil, wrong, etc. Maybe the slogan could be 'Freedom!'

and that anorexia wants my prison-dom and that she wants to kill me and that

I die. She doesn't want me to have a life. There is a great deal, I guess,

to discover about anti-anorexia which I have included in my diary. But

perhaps the most important discovery was that anorexia and her practices

aren't normal and they make you lose your person, your persona, your life,

and yourself. And the wondering, questioning and asking I am doing is

important. You asked me what allowed me to change my history and turn the

corner and make a different future for myself. I guess it may have been

getting fed up, wanting space and time, perhaps a decision or commitment. I

guess when you asked what are the foundational understandings and the

'heart' of my anti-anorexia, perhaps it is the belief that I can have my own

life, and not one shaped or dictated to by anorexia. Maybe the 'heart' of

my anti-anorexia is the knowledge you can lead your own kind of life and

you are not compelled to lead an anorexic lifestyle. In fact, there is a

different kind of life and I can be anti-anorexic in living it. I know now

I won't die but at the same time it will be painful but through it, I will

learn, grow, experience change and start to lead a different kind of life.

You asked me how I formed my own ideas. I guess, maybe even for a second-

although I can't appreciate or acknowledge it, something in my mind was

telling me that I formed my own ideas as opposed to anorexia's ideas. If

you oppose her ideas, this allows room for your ideas to grow. Perhaps by

not listening to everyone else, I started listening to myself, not

anorexia's 'cluttering shit' . Or perhaps I was only listening to the ideas

of people that allowed me to form my own ideas rather than the 'cluttering

shit' that reaffirmed the picture I had of myself as 'shit'. I guess also

by practicing, I am learning from my mistakes and concluded or thought about

concluding several things. It allowed new ideas to come into my head that

perhaps were always there but had been suppressed or denied. Perhaps they

had been sown but hadn't germinated. Or perhaps they were totally new

ideas. The substance that allowed me to form, develop and de-suppress my

ideas were what I refer to as 'anti-anorexia'. Thinking against her, not

with or for her, and by seeing her and her ideas differently, has allowed me

to form different ideas about her and about me.

 

 

 

 

Dean Lobovits, David Epston, Jennifer Freeman
narrative@comcast.net
Date Last Modified:5/3/01
Narrativeapproaches.com