Healthy Lent - Introduction

Lent:
        That time of year when everyone decides to give something up for 40 days to improve themselves.

Healthy:
        Well there is probably no need to put the words healthy in it, because generally these day people who give up things for lent are giving up something they need to give up, something that they need to discard of to improve their life.

Healthy Lent:
        A chance for people who suffer from Eating Disorders to think about and aim towards removing an unhealthy behaviour that still hangs around in their recovery.


I am not asking you to stop this behaviour from 9th March all together. That would be difficult and a potentially impossible target, but by sharing and support from other people maybe by the time Easter comes we will all be in a stronger position to remove that unhealthy behaviour. The idea here is to remove it all together, not just for the 40 days.

To give you an idea of things you can do, here are some examples of what some people did last year:

• One person decided to have butter on their sandwiches at work - a year later they do now do this the majority of the time.
• One person wanted to attend the "traditional" Thursday pub lunch all her friends went on - a year later this person even arranges and makes sure other people are going.
• One person wanted to reduce her exercise routine - a year later this is still a work in progress, but the person understands their relationship with exercise more and has a healthier relationship with it.

I can't say I am totally sure on what I want to do this year, but some ideas that are in my head that I am considering:

• Not drinking in the week.
• Start studying again and actually booking my exam
• Stop "body checking" so much and stop being so concerned about my body image
• regaining my support network by trying to be sociable once a week (this might not work so well with the not drinking in the week).
• Spending more time for me (Relaxing, Resting and Reflecting)

There are probably a lot more things I could think of, in fact as I wrote I thought of a few more but they are more challenging, deeper issues.

Anyways, if anyone is interested feel free to comment and/or follow. I am definitely going to do it and will keep this blog going throughout.

Big Love
A_R