Eating Disorders

[Nancy]

My niece has had an eating disorder for almost ten years. Last night a group of us were at a community festival enjoying Ribfest. She brought her own food but sat under the tent with all of us. After much passing of containers back and forth, I saw her normally stony face crumble as she dissolved into tears. None of us made any obvious notice to spare her the embarrassment. She just had reached her limit at being around so much food and eating. My heart broke for her and my first thought was how brave and strong she is to face her biggest challenge every single day of her life. This thought was new and surprising to me as somewhere in my inner depths I had felt critical and impatient. I have a great nephew and a grandson who also have eating issues. This is such a tough thing to deal with for which I am at a total loss.

 

[jimkenney12]

All we can do most of the time is just be there for them, ready to listen.

 

[KayTheCurler]

My niece has had an eating disorder for almost ten years. Last night a group of us were at a community festival enjoying Ribfest. She brought her own food but sat under the tent with all of us. After much passing of containers back and forth, I saw her normally stony face crumble as she dissolved into tears. None of us made any obvious notice to spare her the embarrassment. She just had reached her limit at being around so much food and eating. My heart broke for her and my first thought was how brave and strong she is to face her biggest challenge every single day of her life. This thought was new and surprising to me as somewhere in my inner depths I had felt critical and impatient. I have a great nephew and a grandson who also have eating issues. This is such a tough thing to deal with for which I am at a total loss.

So hard. All we can do really is stay kind and caring. We humans frequently struggle to understand those things that are outside our own experience.