You’ve probably heard me banging on about it over the past few months. Years even. But now we’re at the pointy end of the process.
BUT THE THING IS, IT’S SCARY!
I should probably have thought about this several years ago when I decided to lay my life right open for everyone to traipse across and have a good stickybeak. But at the time it felt like a cathartic expression of things I’d kept bottled up for far too long. Now everyone is going to know all about my bottles.
My story is about the evolution of an eating disorder and the circumstances – both nature and nurture – that led me there. I am not an extraordinary person. I have had an average little life in an average little family. But shit happens to all of us and some of us are better equipped to deal with that shit.
That equipment for managing stuff comes from both innate personality (I am, after all, a highly sensitive person) and the familial and societal happenings of life. For me, I became someone you could apply the words “childhood emotional neglect” to. Not because my parents were awful people – on the contrary, they were lovely people. But because they were emotionally ill-equipped to deal with children’s emotions. Parenting books and courses did not abound in the 70s and Doctor Spock didn’t cover meeting the emotional needs of a child in great detail. So – we became emotionally neglected. Loved. But not equipped.
THAT HAS LED TO A COUPLE OF PROBLEMS FOR ME
And those problems are now laid out bare ready for anyone to read about.
If you would like to read my story, it will be out on 11 January 2022. I would love you to order a copy – I’m sure it is going to be enlightening! That is certainly the feedback I have received so far.
You can get it at Amazon, or The Book Depository or practically anywhere online. Or maybe just ask your local bookstore to order it in – that would be awesome for me!
My story is not just about me. It is about all the experiences that women can face over the years – the pressure to be thin, the value that is placed on a woman’s appearance, juggling career and family, friendships. And it strives to elicit an understanding of behaviours that many people will find inexplicable – eating disorder, self-harm, suicidal ideation.
I have done the hard work for you. Delving into vulnerable areas that we all have in some capacity. I hope it inspires some introspection but also empathy towards those of us who struggle differently. And if you’re someone with an eating disorder, let it be known that there is comfort in shared misery. And there is hope.
While I’m busy gathering thoughts and journal entries for my second book, now is a great time to read Stalked by Demons, Guarded by Angels: The Girl with the Eating Disorder. (I promise my next book will have a much shorter title.)
If I do say so myself, it’s quite a good read. Order it in and let me know what you think!