A few weeks ago I had the chance to meet Amy, (@joyoverdestination) a recovered therapist in training, who uses her creativity to give back to the eating disorder community. Amy makes earrings, key chains, and bracelets and attaches them to motivational quotes.  She donates her colorful and inspiring goodies to treatment centers all over the country! She even brings her creativity and joy to the centers and makes her creations with the clients in treatment. I am completely enamored with anyone who uses their authentic gifts to help others, and so, of course, I love her mission. When I reached out to thank her for her service, she was gracious and lovely and donated her heartfelt creations to my clients! It has been super special for my clients to have the opportunity to choose a handcrafted recovery creation that speaks to them! As you can tell, I am a huge fan of Amy’s, and when I saw her coming to the Houston Eating Disorder Specialist’s conference I was excited to hear her speak!

At the conference she spoke about realizing that her thinner self wouldn’t have been able to truly be there for her niece and nephew. She said something like “thinner Aunt Amy” wouldn’t have been crawling on the floor with her niece and nephew and playing with them. Through her recovery she learned that her eating disorder’s values and her own values weren’t in sync, and that in order to prioritize her values she had to let go of her eating disorder. I remember feeling a similar way in my recovery. I loved helping others, but I wasn’t going to be able to do that if I couldn’t help myself. I realized that my eating disorder was going to hold me back from my goals of becoming a therapist and helping others.  Like Amy, I had to move towards my values and away from the eating disorder.  I had to realize that each time I didn’t engage in ED behaviors, I was moving towards the life I wanted! Leaving the eating disorder behind was excruciating, but it was also empowering! I was choosing the life I wanted, instead of the life my eating disorder had predetermined for me.

In her workshop Amy had her participants write down their top three values on the adorable and signature Joy Over Destination cards. I was struck with how my own “shoulds” told me to write down family and friends and education, because those seemed the most socially acceptable, but that wouldn’t be the authentic me! I pushed the shoulds out of view and wrote down four words that spoke most to me: creativity, authenticity, passion, and connection. Those four words pretty much sum up how I chose to live my life today. When things in my life don’t align with those values, I feel it in my gut and in my soul. So, thanks Amy for the food for thought, all of your amazing service to the eating disorder community, and bringing my focus back to the things that truly matter!