"Don’t let someone dim your light, simply because it’s shining in their eyes."
*quote source below
Drop your veil, and let your light shine.
** painting credit below
Often when women are at the beginning of eating disorder recovery they have years, maybe a lifetime, of dimming their light so that their gifts don't cause another person to feel diminished.
This way of behaving and living becomes ingrained as sacrifice for love. A woman can come to believe the loving thing to do is to protect the other from knowledge of her'competence or creativity, or brilliance or artistry or brain power or........n. The person dimming her light may continue the practice until she is lonely, exploited, tired, sad, frustrated without knowing why and.... eventually, in the dark.
Hey, if they can't stand the light, let them develop a tolerance for it with practice. Or let them get inspired to develop their own light. Or let them move to the shade while you pursue what you can see in the light.
Be brave, and drop your veil. Your recovery depends on it.
:)
Joanna Poppink, MFT, Los Angeles eating disorder recovery psychotherapist, author of Healing Your Hungry Heart: recovering from your eating disorder.
*quote found on Twitter from La Ventana Treatment Centers.
** painting credit: The Veiled Lady, Portrait paintings by Alexander Roslin public domain
