Community blog: Why should I start treatment this summer?

Summer is a time for fun, relaxing, swimming, and soaking up the sun. Unfortunately, if you have an eating disorder, summer can quickly lose its shine. While the sunny months may seem like an inconvenient time to get eating disorder treatment, it is important to remember that the best time to start treatment is now. Still unsure? Read what The Emily Program community had to say when asked, “Why should I start treatment this summer?”

• You should start treatment this summer to be present in this wonderful life—completely present. Not preoccupied with food, weight or fear. We wait all year for summer!!! – Juli P. Evans
• When I think about the summer, I think about all of the amazing memories I’ve made growing up. Riding my bike, hanging out with friends, feeling the sun on my face, and being near the ocean. I couldn’t do these things when I was really sick with my eating disorder. I couldn’t be fully present and experience all of the wonderful things about summer without recovery. Recovery is hard work. Recovery is an everyday battle. But without recovery, I wouldn’t be able to make more summer memories, like sipping lemonade on a beach with my friends, going for a run, and just enjoying life and not being afraid to try new things, including new foods. Sure, it’s not always easy. Somedays, it’s a struggle to continue, but one day, when you’re in the midst of recovery, experiencing what it has to offer, you’ll look back on when your eating disorder was present in your life, and it will never feel as good as being able to enjoy freedom. – Delanie Shreve
• You should start treatment this summer to be able to stay warm this upcoming Autumn! To enjoy your coffee with cream and sugar and pumpkin spice, if you like it that way! To spend your post-meal Thanksgiving lazily watching football instead of anxiously counting the calories you’ll have to restrict tomorrow! To prepare yourself to endure the upcoming school year. And, if you’re like me, to make sure you can walk across campus during your freshman year of college without fainting, and to make sure you can focus on your classes. –Aaron Giganti
• You are worth the journey and others have been on your journey. You are not alone and can have freedom. Let others lift you up and walk beside you as you heal. – Kristin Elizabeth
• Because your life is too important to spend any more time letting ED and food and weight loss goals hold you hostage. –Cherice Fischer
• Why wait a second longer? You are worth recovery now. – Crystal Olson
• To learn to love yourself. To be free from all your self-doubt about your body. I’m still on the path to recovery, but I am almost free from this prison of hating myself. – Betsy Whitmire Clevenger
• Why should you start recovery this summer? Well, summer is the perfect time to dedicate more time to it, you probably have more time on your hands, so why not start your journey now? With more time on your hands, it’s hard to not fall back into eating disorder habits or have urges, so treatment this summer could be helpful to learn how to cope. It’s never too late to start recovery. You are worthy and deserving of it. – Lynzie Lucile
• So you don’t ever have to spend another summer stuck in your ED. –@chronically_taking_flight
• Summer can be the hardest/most trigger month for someone with an ED… and no one deserves to live the way their ED convinces them they should. I started my journey at the beginning of this year and I’m so thankful I did. I truly didn’t believe there was a life without obsessive exercise and disordered eating. I urge ANYONE/EVERYONE to seek help. You’ll be so thankful you did. – Courtney D.
• If you keep waiting for the right time to start recovery, you’re going to be waiting forever. It’s important to stop waiting for the “perfect” time because you’re probably never going to feel 100% ready for recovery. It’s summer now and the best time to commit to recovery is always the present moment. Acknowledge that you don’t have to feel 100% ready to get the support you need and deserve. Your eating disorder will always convince you that you’re not ready to recover. You have to remind it every day that you are. – Nicole P.
• I officially entered treatment full time at the beginning of the summer because I knew college wouldn’t be an option otherwise. – Jamie (@tacosat10am)
• Because everyone deserves to live a life that isn’t consumed by food and weight. Seeking treatment can be terrifying and your eating disorder will try to trick you into thinking you don’t need or deserve help, but that’s a lie. I started treatment at The Emily Program this year and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done! – Loeke Sakkers
• Sometimes starting recovery is the scariest thing you do. After denying help or denying you have a problem for months or even years, a change needs to be made. No one deserves to be struggling, regardless of the “severity” of the eating disorder. If you feel like you have a problem, help is necessary. Everyone deserves to be able to live a full, happy life, without counting calories or destroying yourself. – Liz Moyer
• Because the courageous confrontation of all the layers of your eating disorder will lead to freedom; addressing only the symptoms will leave you with shadows, ghosts, and demons that will continue to pop up for years to come. Everyone deserves to live life free of fear of food and to be at peace with their body, and that will happen when both the symptoms and the root cause of your eating disorder are addressed. It’s possible! –Laurie
• I entered treatment at The Emily Program two summers ago after 10 years of struggling. I’d be lying if I said it was a decision I made on my own, but it is one I’m very grateful for. Summer can feel like the worst time to start something new, especially something you have to work hard at, but there’s never going to be a “good” time and that’s something that helped me surrender to the process. It’s scary and unknown, but the healing process is so worth it. It feels good to discover more of who you are beyond an eating disorder. – @alleighfralick
• “Putting off treatment is a matter that is quite literally life or death. You deserve to not only live, but thrive. If you have ever watched or read “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” they say that living off of the unicorn blood will cause you to live half a life. It is the same with an eating disorder. Be Harry, not Voldemort. – Nikki Chin
• Summer is an off-season for sports, and sports can be a huge trigger for my ED self. This is a good time for recovery because I know that summer is a time where I get to make my own schedule and figuring it out during this time will help me to go into my fall sport with a plan and a way to keep myself intact. I know that I can choose to let myself physically rest when I need it mentally. There will be so many spontaneous social situations involving food of body insecurities during these months that will be perfect opportunities for me to practice facing my fear of not being in control. I deserve to live a life that isn’t consumed by what I eat and what I look like. – Addie P.
• Anytime is a good time to enter treatment. Treatment is so worth it. It takes so much courage to even think about going in, but it is about time you get your life back. There is so much to enjoy in your life but your ED self makes it impossible. Redefine your life this summer and find your happy place, and I mean your true happy place, not the one your ED self tells you. Summer is a time for fresh starts, and once you get yours, you will realize how worth it it is. Summer can be such a triggering time for people with an eating disorder, and working through the triggering and difficult times in treatment can teach you more about yourself and the illness, and can help you be stronger and better prepared for future seasons and experiences. Knowing what you’re feeling, why you’re feeling it, and what you can do to prevent it will change your life! Eating disorders are such a big issue and they are so heightened in the summer and the warm-weathered months. I hope you take the time for yourself this summer and enter into your new life where food and your body are no longer the enemy, but the things that keep you alive, happy, and healthy. – Shannon B.
• Because now is the time! Life has the potential to be more beautiful than you ever imagined!! When you become free of your eating disorder thoughts, a whole new world emerges and you will be forever grateful. – Katie Christenson
• To be able to live your life fully, and not constantly obsessing over food, weight, your body, etc., to the point where it negatively affects your relationships, health, and entire life. To be able to live a meaningful life without worry, fear, and anxiety dragging you down. To not be censoring every food-related choice you make. To have a more full, healthier social life. To be happier and healthier. To live free of food-related guilt and anxiety. To have a clearer mind. – Maeve Fickes
• To create real memories that really matter and to introduce yourself to a life that isn’t about numbers or size. — @foodtrition101
• So you can go to the swimming pool and wear cute crop tops and shorts without feeling self-conscious. So you can go on walks and bike rides with friends without feeling like you’re going to faint. – Lauren
• Why wait? Life can be scary and unpredictable. I used my eating disorder to find control in a world that was overwhelming. Once I stopped obeying every obsession the eating disorder demanded on me, I began to find freedom. I can’t even being to explain how sweet it is to finally have control over my own thoughts and behaviors. Yes, I struggle. Some days are easier than others. Yet, even when life knocks me down and I start to spiral out of control, I know what I need to do to regain control. I am okay with struggling because I know I am not perfect and to struggle is just part of life—part of being human. So, why start treatment this summer? Because hiding in the secrets of an eating disorder is harder than living life and you deserve to live—not to simply exist! – Katie Ann
• My eating disorder stole from my college experience. I had to work three times as hard and as long as normal because I couldn’t concentrate; I’d read part of my textbooks and at the end of the excerpt, I had no idea what I just read. I was too isolative to make friends, go to parties or try new activities. I never wanted anyone to see me eat. I spent 35K in one year buying binge food by signing up for 7 different credit cards. My eating disorder has a significant impact on my depression and I felt alone and desperate, which just fed the ED cycle. In hindsight, if I could do it all over again, I wish I’d done whatever needed to be done in a healthier place when I went to college, so I could embrace the experience and get to do the things that make college such a unique time in life, instead of spiraling further into my ED. Spending one summer (or however long it takes) getting the help you need can save years of future summers spent suffering. – Jen Lotshaw

The Emily Program is so grateful for the supportive community surrounding us and our clients. If you are ready to start treatment and begin the road to recovery this summer, reach out to us today. Call 1-888-364-5977 or find us online.