Your Stories

Whatever this Christmas season is like for you, I want to give you hope for the Christmas future. I can't tell you that recovery is linear, or that five years on I don't still have wobbles and moments of doubt. But I can say that all of my efforts, all of the hard work and fear that has gone into my recovery has been worth it.

What a year 2020 has been in general for everyone – it was a year no one ever could have imagined, from panic buying, toilet roll shortages, lockdowns and restrictions. Yet for so many, including me, the battle against an eating disorder continued.

I understand how the hustle and bustle of Christmas bells and laughter can be so quickly swept away by the intrusion of food-related thoughts that spark from the voice of an eating disorder. I wanted to remind each of you that even though things appear rather dark right now, there is hope!

I wanted to fundraise for Beat because I suffer from anorexia nervosa. I reached crisis last year when I was hospitalised for six months, but that should never have happened.

Living with Bulimia lifts the lid on the truth about eating disorders. Now we must reconsider the way we think about and treat them.

I can say now with confidence that the government’s obesity strategy is not going to work.

I can’t remember exactly when my relationship with food became toxic but, once it did, it was like a snowball rolling down a hill, getting larger and larger and faster and faster.

I want to say that my disordered eating habits crept up on me, but I remember giving this side of my disorder great thought and careful consideration. It was my disordered thinking that weaved its way into my mind and took hold.

As an individual who often struggles to verbalise disordered thoughts, attempting to engage in therapy and meaningful conversations is something I find hugely challenging. I

I reached out to Beat hoping to become a volunteer about six months ago. Before that, I hadn’t heard of the phrase ‘sibling carer’ and had never really thought of myself as being one.

Take part along with hundreds of other brave fundraisers, and skydive together to help end the pain and suffering caused by eating disorders. Here, Abi tells us about her post-lockdown skydive challenge.

I was hugely unhappy and suffering with mental health issues all throughout my teens. In a very dramatic and extreme way, I learned the very hard lesson that I was not able to reach my full potential unless I started to accept and take care of myself.