Hi, I’m back after a long break.
So when I started this blog, I wanted to focus on skin picking disorder because I felt that the resources and the stories of people experiencing this are still pretty hidden away.
But I decided that I will also share more of my journey on binge eating. It’s hit back pretty hard for me these past months, and my every day involves finding ways to manage it, and I want to share what has been working for me, and what has been challenging.
Mind you, I’m still struggling with skin picking every day as well. It seems that both my skin picking and binge eating are my coping mechanisms, and when I’m in need of some kind of comfort, either of these (or both!) come out.
During my break from here, I started counseling through BetterHelp which has been a gamechanger. It’s been really helpful to finally be able to be vocal about what I feel and start unpeeling the underlying causes of my anxiety, depression, and these disorders. It’s not a cheap option for sure, but when I think of how my performance has been affected by my depression, etc., I decided to take the plunge and invest. I think it also helps that so far, my counselor and I are a good fit. Maybe readers here can relate, but I find that the relationship, the chemistry, the “fit” between the client and the counselor/psychiatrist is a MAJOR factor in making progress.
So, to start with, I found out that “binge eating” was a disorder, and that there are people out there sharing their stories came when I found the YouTuber “Kelly U“. She opened my eyes to the concept of looking into yourself when you binge, and the importance of being extra compassionate to yourself when you binge or feel like binging because that’s when you need it the most. Instead, I think most of us beat ourselves up for binging and make ourselves feel worse. There is a reason why we felt like we needed to binge, and it helps to give ourselves an internal compassionate hug for feeling this way. I think this resonates with skin picking as well. I tend to skin pick more when I’m stressed, sad, tired, or simply bored, all of these situations, I could really do with a hug and empathy for myself!
It’s difficult when we’re filled with feelings of shame and self-disgust, but imagine your best friend is going through this, it might make it easier to be kinder to ourselves (I try to do this when I’m blaming myself for something outside of disorder as well, I am definitely the world’s best critic of myself and it takes effort to pull myself away from the negative mentality)
My mind is starting to get fuzzy so I’ll be back again with more on the ways I’m trying to cope with these bitching habits and disorders.
Stay safe, Xx