Treatments for Bulimia and Keys to Bulimia Recovery - Practice Self Love

Self-love is not about being conceited, self involved, or vain. It is about accepting and valuing yourself for who you are. Nurturing your own intrinsic worth through self love is vitally important for each of us. This was a key lesson that I learned along the way when I underwent my treatments for bulimia.

Low levels of self-esteem, self confidence and a lack of self love often coincide with self-destructive behaviors and addictions.  This includes bulimia and other eating disorders. It may sound a bit like pop psychology, but if you are a person who doesn’t believe that someone is sincere when they say, “I love you,” because you don’t see anything loveable about you, then this applies to you.

After 20 years of trying to overcome bulimia, my treatments for bulimia revealed to me that self-love is actually an important key to healing from within.

Here is a little quiz to find out if you're lacking in that vital ingredient for healing, self love:

1. Can you take a compliment or does it make you feel uncomfortable?
2. Do you wonder how someone can love you, or do you think they're just saying that to get  something out of you?
3. Are you a perfectionist? Do you believe that if you can’t do it perfectly, then why bother
4. If you're having a good time do you feel guilty about it later?
5. Do tend to mistrust your own judgement or dismiss your intuition?
6. Do you hang out with people who make you feel bad about yourself, rather than those who give you positive energy?
7. Do you find it difficult or even impossible to forgive yourself for a slip up – either imagined or real?
8. Are you your own worst critic? Do you constantly compare yourself with others and find yourself wanting what they have?
9. Is it important for you to do all that you possibly can to please others, especially your parents?
10. Do you feel burdened by the expectations that others have from you?
11. Do you think that it is selfish to look after yourself and to put yourself first?

If you answered “Yes” to one of more of the above questions, then learning the art of self-love definitely needs to be a part of your treatments for bulimia. It’s about time you learned how to feel good about yourself. To get comfortable with who you are and as you are right now. Practicing self-love is about letting go of the need to be something you’re not. Someone you think people will like, someone you aspire to be or think others want you to be.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against setting a high standard for oneself, nor am I condoning mediocrity. Rather what I do recommend is that you look for the good in you. Look for what makes you special. Look at yourself through the eyes of those who care about you. You will see a lot to love and much to value.

Making yourself the last priority is not going to help with your treatments for bulimia. What will help is learning to value yourself, learning to care for yourself in a gentle and loving fashion and telling yourself that you deserve to live a fulfilling, happy life. Feeling good about yourself is a big step in eating disorder recovery.