The Strength To Over Come An Eating Disorder
Wow is life amazing! I’m sitting on my lovely couch editing the photos from such an amazing photo shoot today and feel full of a joy for life.
It’s people like Roxanne that have the strength to over come their trials that brings a whole new feeling to the word motivation. We have known each other for years, but I had no idea the mountains that she has climbed.
She has dealt self-image problems for quite some time, but it wasn’t until her junior year of high school that it began to get out of hand. She made it onto senior class office, and knowing how often she would be standing in front of people she felt she needed to improve. The summer between her junior and senior year of high school she worked out and started eating a healthier diet. On the first day of our senior year we had our opening assembly. I will say I almost didn’t recognize her, she was never overweight but seeing such a slim fit silhouette it truly took me a second to recognize her.
Of course so many of the students, myself included, exclaimed how in shape she was looking. But with the stress of school and now a leadership position, she felt she needed to do her best not to regain the weight. She knew she didn’t have the time to workout as much so she focused on her diet and began calorie counting. It began to be a challenge that she enjoyed, trying to get her intake of calories lower each day. I know that when an illness like depression, or anorexia kicks in you begin to not see why what you are doing is bad or harming your body. So as friends and loved ones tried to help she didn’t see that their points were real and she didn’t feel like she needed help.
Her father purchased her a designer dress for graduation, but in a size above what she was at the time. Knowing she had to gain just a little weight to wear it, she did. I love that something this simple can give that hope to step towards a better life.
After graduation she attended college, but finally realized that she truly needed help or she could easily pass away at age 19. She walked herself into a counseling center, there she met with an outpatient therapist. I can’t image the strength it would take to realize it’s beyond your own control and seek help like that.
She shared with me how much they helped, especially because they helped her find the root of the problem and didn’t just fix the symptoms. If any of you are struggling with anything, big or small please try and find out what may have caused it and forgive who ever needs to be forgiven (if there is someone) and forgive your self for anything you have done to your self and others.
Roxanne showed me a few scares on her hand from her teeth as she would bite down to make her self throw up, she then shared this story….
“After I graduated and moved out I decided I wasn’t really that religious. It wasn’t until I was finding help that I decided to try and ask God, if he was really there won’t he help me. I was then going to put my hand in my mouth to force myself to throw up when I saw the scar on my hand and the words “Weren’t My scars enough” came to me. As I realized the scar was where Christ would have a scar on His hand. I couldn’t get myself to do it. I know the atonement is real.”
I know that God is out there watching over all of us, and I loved that she shared this story with me. She has now completed a year of not harming herself with anorexia or bulimia. She is also in a healthy relationship, it was fun taking some photos of the two them.
I hope if any of you are struggling with any kind of eating disorder that you can know, you are not alone, and that you can truly be happy if you are eating a healthy amount. If you have any questions or would like to contact her you can find her on Instagram her info will be linked at the end of this post.
I wish you all the best! And feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail if you have any question or thoughts, I love hearing from you :)
Warmly, Kylie
“Wow. I love all the pictures and stories you’re posting. Inspiring!!!”
“What an amazing article and an amazing person. Thank you Roxanne and Kylie for sharing her story!”
“Good work Kylie. You really presented a serious situation in a sweet way with both your words and pictures!”