I celebrate Valentine’s Day gleefully and joyously – but not because of love, romance and flowers. I celebrate this day as a day of reclaiming myself and revitalizing my spirit – of freeing myself from a continual and long period of self-destruction and dysfunction – mired in a toxic relationship.
Eight years ago today – after bingeing and purging for 46 years – I kicked ED (eating disorder) out of my life. The local Fox affiliate recently did a story on eating disorders and I was part of the narrative.
“I hadn’t grasped the degree to which a sense of shame had insidiously undergirded my life. Now, it was gone, replaced by an unaccustomed pride,” so says Nancy Wartik recently in the New York Times about kicking her drinking problem.
Ditto.
Eating Disorders rob us of joy too. And 300,000 people in the Tampa Bay area alone are so afflicted.
My mindset now conforms to the Swedish philosophy of “Lagom,” meaning “just the right amount.” Lagom, further defined as in moderation and in balance, carries the connotation of appropriateness, although not necessarily perfection. Lagom underscroes the theory that ENOUGH is as good as a feast.
This mindset corresponds with my template of PYB – Preserving Your Bloom – using your talents and resources to be the best you can be – not perfect, but not good enough.
Speaking of slogans and templates for action, the Alliance for Eating Disorders sports this slogan:
These people are serious. Why? Here are some eye-popping stats:
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13% of women over the age of 50 have symptoms of an eating disorder.
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Eating disorders have one of the highest mortality rates of any mental illness – with nearly one person dying every hour as a direct result of their eating disorder.
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At least 30 million Americans will experience a clinically significant eating disorder in their life time. (Thirty million? That’s roughly equivalent to more than 7 times the current population of Los Angeles!)
The Alliance for Eating Disorders is sponsoring an eating disorder awareness walk on March 1 at Raymond James Stadium. All proceeds stay local and fund two on-going weekly support groups – one in Pinellas for families whose loved ones struggle with Eating Disorders and one in Hillsborough for people struggling with ED.
I have signed up for the walk and pledged to raise a modest sum of $300. If you’d like to contribute, here’s the link:
https://allianceforeatingdisorders.salsalabs.org/2020tampa/p/irispastor/index.html
And, if you’d like to attend the staged reading of The Secret Life of a Weight Obsessed Woman on Monday, 2/17 at Stageworks Theatre in Tampa at 7pm, please RSVP to irisruthpastor@gmail.com. Admission is free, but space is now very limited.
Keep Preserving Your Bloom,
Iris Ruth Pastor