"Boundaries in Healing: Choosing Me Over We", Project Heal 2024
Reflection Revisiting my essay, "Boundaries in Healing: Choosing Me Over We" , published by Project Heal in February of this year stirs up many emotions. The hardest essay I've written to date; confronting the content of this piece was more challenging than I predicted. When I originally pitched the concept in December '23, I felt very confident in my ability to address the difficult subject matter, however, transitioning from concept to reality was beyond what I ever expected. As an autobiographical essayist, I should of course be aware of how difficult it can be to reflect, revisit, and share what can be very intimate and painful experiences, but typically this process only occurs when I feel myself to be at a healed place with the content. So, when it came time for me to begin writing this essay, my understanding of my level of healing in relationship to disordered eating and body dysmorphia was critically challenged. My relationship to my body and appearance e...