“Fall down seven times, get up eight.” – Japanese Proverb 

No one reaches a goal without struggles. 

They backslide. They fail. They wonder if they will ever succeed. At those moments, you have fallen down. You tripped over a lack of willpower or were pushed down by a sneering family member. When that happens, you must get back up. If you do not get back up, you will struggle with every goal you ever set. There are dozens of ways of passing along this advice, from the Japanese proverb “Nana korobi ya oki,” “fall down seven times, get up eight,” to Confucius’s famous saying “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” Each saying has a little bit of extra truth in it. The Confucius quote touches on another facet of getting back up after a mistake. Those who fail and try again are stronger than those who never fail. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” has a similar meaning. Those who refuse to get back up after a struggle will never know the strength that can be gained through trying, failing and trying again. Those who give up in the face of their first struggle may also never reach that sort of goal again. If a would-be athlete gives up when they suffer a minor injury, they will never succeed in any sport. If a person who wants to learn another language abandons their efforts after saying something embarrassing, they will never become bilingual. You have to push through the struggles. As an unknown but wise person once said, “If you don’t get back on the horse that threw you, you’ll never ride again.” Give up once, and you will struggle with success forever. 

 

Dear Readers,

 

Please find below another motivating post from Ali Kerr from HealED ‘What if I only binge occasionally?’. This is a very pivotal question Ali addresses in this article.  There are many sufferes who say they sometimes binge, though some will pull out of these infrequent rare episodes of binges, many fail to pull out and this sadly becomes a repetitive cycle of binge eating and often binge and purge cycle.

 

 

What if I only binge occasionally?

 

 

I used to feel so confused about my binging.

I had days and weeks at a time where things seemed ok.
I hardly binged at all.
It felt so great to feel a little glimmer of what recovery must look like.

Then it would hit me, and I would cycle back into a severe binge and purge pattern again.
I would then resolve with all my might to use my willpower to end this once and for all.

But willpower never worked.

I always ended up back in a binge cycle, regardless of how strong and determined I had once felt.

I wondered if my eating disorder wasn’t so bad since I could get things almost back to normal for small amounts of time.

But that wasn’t recovery.

Even those stronger moments weren’t really progress because I had no idea what I was doing.
There was no direction.
And what’s worse, the frustration of binging again was unbearably painful each time.

I felt afraid, discouraged and alone.
But I wasn’t sure I really needed help because I could manage on my own for a few days or weeks at a time.
The reality was, I didn’t know how to recover on my own.

Have you been considering reaching out for help but are afraid that your binging isn’t ‘extreme’ or severe enough?

I get emails like this quite frequently, where someone isn’t sure if they really need help.
Maybe they think they can do this on their own, or maybe they’re embarrassed that their coach will think they’re silly for signing up when they only binge on rare occasions.

If you’re struggling with this, here’s a little encouragement:

We can provide support before your binging gets more severe.
We can help you create a detailed recovery plan so that you don’t feel so alone.

Even a rare binge can be painful, making you feel physically ill and emotionally upset for days afterward.
One binge can easily turn into another, and become a more serious problem.

Most of us who have recovered wish that we had found help sooner than we did.

Don’t wait until you feel that you’ve hit ‘rock bottom’.
There’s no need to put yourself through that.
You deserve to live a life free from your eating disorder, and we’re here to help.

We never judge you. Ever.
All of our coaches have experienced their own journeys through ED recovery, and are very familiar with the different ways in which eating disorders can manifest.

I’m here to tell you that even occasional binging is not normal, healthy or sustainable.
If you’re considering getting help, I encourage you to do it before things worsen or cause problems for your health.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Where will your journey begin?

You can learn more about our coaching program here

 

Love and light,
Ali