If there was ever a time to give yourself grace in recovery, wouldn't it be now?

The world feels particularly overwhelming nowadays. Highly Sensitive or not, you're not alone in that feeling. While I've sometimes felt busier than ever, I've also spent more and more time considering the concepts of burnout, compassion, and self-forgiveness. (I'm an HSP so these rabbit holes are second nature, of course!)

Whether you forgot to change the oil in your car, slept through an important meeting, or can't stop thinking about how you binged AGAIN last night, even though you promised yourself you wouldn't... what's even more painful and frustrating than these actual events is the way we treat ourselves because of them.

Beating ourselves over the head with a berating, vicious inner monologue has been the norm, for far too long.

Well, it just doesn't work; neither for your recovery or your life.

If getting upset at ourselves and calling ourselves names helped us avoid relapse or recover faster or more easily, I imagine we'd all have a near-perfect relationship with food and our bodies, and I'd have zero therapy clients!

It makes me sad how long I believed (mostly on an unconscious level) that treating myself like crap would help me do and be better. It just never happened that way, and now I know fully and deeply that it never would have.

I have overcome a lot in my life, and I can recognize now that I did not once, EVER, make it through a challenging time by being cruel to myself. In fact, that cruelty only made things much worse. My self-talk used to be so brutal and my lack of grace and self-compassion so immense that there were times when I didn't want to keep living.

Many Highly Sensitive People with eating disorders are prone to experiencing that depth of pain. What I couldn't recognize back then was that I just didn't want to keep living like that. 

"We can't hate ourselves into a version of ourselves we can love." - Lori Deschene

This quote has meant the world to me since I first came across it several years ago. I love it so much that it's even featured on my therapy website. It's 100% true. We must include grace in recovery.

I approach all of my therapy clients and loved ones with the belief that everyone is doing their best at any given moment, with the resources they have and the kind of thoughts and emotions they experience each day. This helps me foster and maintain a space that is safe and non-judgmental. I don't take it personally when a client turns to an eating disorder behavior or is late to a session due to struggling to get out of bed.

And my clients can trust that they are still valuable and accepted whether they're kicking ass or barely holding on.

Grace helps keep you invested in the work of recovery and paves the way for truly remarkable change.

I know it's not easy to change the way we talk to ourselves, but I promise you, we are capable of it, and it's vital that we work on it.

I'd love to help.

✨ Josie Munroe, LMFT is a licensed therapist and owner of JosieMunroe.com and Your Sensitive Recovery  As a recovered clinician and Highly Sensitive Person, she loves supporting others on their journeys to form new, empowered relationships with food, their bodies, and their sensitivity. Join the newsletter for a weekly boost of hope and inspiration. You deserve a recovery that works for you! ✨