MEDA held a very successful event last night called "Panel of Recovery." It was basically as it sounds: a panel of people who had an experience with eating disorders. There was a father, an ex-MEDA intern who was recovered, a recovered woman (one of my readers, Jen) and her husband. They were all very beautiful and hopeful stories.
The father's story (and his delivery) were scarily identical to my father and what he would say. The content, his body language.. if you were there last night, you met my dad and how we would talk about the process of my recovery from his point of view. Seriously.. it freaked my mom and I out.
If anything effected me last night, it wasn't so much the speakers as it was the reaction of the audience to their stories. There was a young couple across the aisle from me, probably somewhere in their early 20s. At some points, the girl would nod in agreement with the speakers' experiences and start to cry a little, and her boyfriend/husband (whatever) would put his arm around her and ask if she was doing okay. It was really beautiful. I get really excited when I see such supportive significant others like that. I always felt so lucky to have that kind of support throughout my recovery, as well. I know how hard it must be for boyfriends and girlfriends to watch someone they love go through that process and how easy it would be for them to give up. I see that all to often as well.
The turn-out was really great. They place was full with families and friends alike. My mom said she had wished something like that existed while I was struggling. It probably did, but you never know about it until you have to really get involved. Now we know.
Last night gave me some great ideas on how I want to write my story and a lot of motivation to just get it done already. I'm such a procrastinator, but I know I could be doing so much more of what I want if I would just get this one speech written.
4 comments:
Do it! Writing my speech was a HARD, but amazing experience. :)
I have to say, it was a pretty good turn out. And I think you guys did a good job having the different variety of speakers, which I loved.
The only thing that got to me were some of the questions asked by the audience in the end, I had to walk out of the room for that. But I guess thats why MEDA exists right? To inform people more about ED's. So I guess I shouldn't be bashing them like that, because in a way they are trying to learn since they did show up to this event.
I'd love for you guys to have more stuff out in this area! And next time, we both cant be so shy, Em!
The task force I am a part of decided to host a panel this year as a part of our NEDAW events. The turnout wasn't high, but the people that did show up were fantastic. They asked excellent questions and it was a wonderful way for us to network with other people in the community who are interested and concerned with eating disorders. I felt similar to how you felt when all was said and done -- we did something important and it had an effect on people. :)
This study examined eye movements of woman effected by ED’s.
http://www.dailyrx.com/news-article/binge-eaters-focus-ugly-body-parts-more-14512.html
By measuring eye movement, investigators discovered that body dissatisfaction was exceptionally high in women who are considered binge eaters.
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