Celebrating Halloween can come in many forms – enjoying spooky stories, watching scary movies, dressing up in creative costumes, and enjoying sweet treats. Knowing which aspect of Halloween excites you can take the pressure off the emphasis on candy and help guide your celebration of this spooky day.
Although Halloween can be thrilling, with friends and family dressing up in costumes and attending haunted houses, people in eating disorder recovery may feel more anxious than excited.
For those of you who are Halloween fanatics, it is spooky season! And for those, such as myself, who are scaredey cats, it is pumpkin season! No matter where you fall on the spectrum of Halloween enthusiasm, enjoying October with a recovery-oriented mindset is crucial to help you create memories and experiences.
Navratri, meaning “nine nights,” is a Hindu festival celebrating the goddess Durga. This year, autumn Navratri takes place from October 15th - October 24th. The festival is commemorated with the idea that good always reigns over evil.
Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is observed annually by the Jewish community. This year, Yom Kippur takes place from Sunday, September 24th to Monday, September 25th. There are a variety of traditions associated with the holiday, such as observation and fasting. However, those struggling with an eating disorder or on the path to eating disorder recovery should consider whether fasting is their safest option.
Rosh Hashanah, a holiday to celebrate the Jewish New Year, is a time to gather with loved ones and enjoy traditions of food and prayers. Yet for those in eating disorder recovery, this celebration can bring up stress with more food around.
Labor Day can be an exciting time to gather with friends and family to celebrate summer. However, for people in recovery from an eating disorder, this holiday can pose undue stress and overwhelm. As with anything out of someone’s routine, holidays can pose unpredictable challenges in recovery.
Ramadan is a period of religious observation from March 22nd to April 20th, 2023. The Muslim community observes Ramadan as a time for fasting, prayers, and reflection. However, Ramadan can be a triggering time for individuals with an eating disorder.
Valentine’s Day is associated with love, romance, and an occasional giant teddy bear. While the idea of the holiday is about feeling an abundance of love and sharing that with others, it can often be a challenging and lonely day, especially in recovery from an eating disorder.
While it is no secret that eating disorders and food or body distress have an immense negative impact on your physical body, they also significantly impact your brain and thought patterns. In the recovery process, it is essential to take back your thoughts and reestablish a positive self-talk practice.
Setting a goal and working towards it can be an empowering feeling. New Year’s resolutions have become a landmark of goal-setting for millions of people in Western culture. However, diet culture has managed to co-opt the meaning of what is meant to be personal, individualized resolutions into toxic, fear-mongering, and often fatphobic messaging.
Now that it is 2023, everyone has been discussing their New Year’s resolutions and the “New Year, New Me” mindset. Often, these are followed up with wishes to lose weight, be “healthier,” and sign up for some fitness regimen. The diet culture industry takes advantage of this time by advertising different diet plans and gym discounts to fuel this idea even more.
