I remember the first time I received peer support. I was feeling alone, like nobody in the universe could ever understand how I was feeling because frankly, I didn’t understand it myself. Sitting with someone who truly understood what I was experiencing, who didn’t judge me for my irrational thinking. To learn that someone had experienced exactly what I was now experiencing, yet they had come through the other side – what a sense of relief. Years later, I am so extremely fortunate to be in a place in my own recovery to provide that same experience to others – to say that you are NOT alone and that you WILL get through this. If I could do it, you can do it too. Recovery IS possible.

I have suffered from an eating disorder for the past twenty years and have been in recovery for five. I am happily married with two wonderful little boys and I can’t imagine my life without them. To think that my life could have been so different if I had given into my eating disorder makes me appreciate what I have and how hard I have fought for this life so much more. Life is so much better now and I live every day to the fullest. It still takes a lot of hard work, determination, and strength but it is possible and it is so worth It!!

This too shall pass!

The journey is the reward ….

Remember you are worth it..every single person is special.

When “I” is replaced by “we”, even illness becomes wellness. ~ Unknown

Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all. ~ Bill Clinton

We must be willing to let go of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us; ~Joseph Campbell

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but triumph over it. ~Nelson Mandela

If you change nothing, nothing will change. ~Unknown.

Count your garden by the flowers,

Never by the leaves that fall.

Count your days by golden hours,

Don’t remember clouds at all.

Count your nights by stars not shadows,

Count your life with smiles, not tears

Count your blessings not your troubles,

Count your age by friends not years. ~Unknown.

I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do. ~Unknown.

Listen. People start to heal the moment they feel heard. ~Unknown.

Mental illness is not a choice. But recovery is. ~Unknown.

Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer control our lives. ~Unknown.

Deep in your wounds are seeds, waiting to grow beautiful flowers ~Niti Majethia

HOPE: Hold On, Pain Ends.

Be confident. Too many days are wasted comparing ourselves to others & wishing to be something we aren’t. Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses and it is only when you accept everything you are and everything you aren’t that you will truly succeed in life. ~Ritu Ghatourey