Tegan's Story

Recovery in process

Being diagnosed with anorexia nervosa at 15 and being utterly consumed by this insidious disease for nearly 20 years has meant that I am now desperate to share my experience with others, in the hope that one day someone else can experience how blissful it feels to be “recovered”. I don’t define recovery as a destination, and reaching this point has not been linear. Living in recovery means that I have a unique perspective, one that I want to share because I now understand that pain shared is pain halved. Recovery models should be based off lived experience, not the number on the scale which cannot indicate how well a person is. I would describe living through an eating disorder as hell on earth. For me, and for my family. But I have to wonder if stigma and fear were removed, and the silence and shame turned to understanding and connection, could we change the way eating disorders are treated?