*Trigger warning* Please note that the following post discusses weight and disordered eating. Please make sure you are in a safe place before reading.
Food and I have had a disordered relationship for a long time. I have used food to punish and to soothe. I have used it to attempt to fill a void and restricted it when I believed I deserved it. I have struggled to see food as just food, instead demonising it and using shame to beat myself with. My weight has yo-yoed many times over the years.
I remember reading a piece of advice years ago about things we should or shouldn’t mention to the people around us. It advised that unless a person can change something easily, like food in their teeth or their skirt tucked into their undies, then don’t mention it. Weight doesn’t fit into that category and yet people feel it’s their right to comment on a person’s size.
Long time no write…I’ve felt that familiar itch again recently. I don’t know if this will be the one thing I write this year, or if it will become a regular thing again. I’m just going to go with the flow and see what happens. The following is a short story I wrote recently. I hope you enjoy!
Since I have begun posting more about my own ADHD diagnosis, I have had people message and ask how I went about it. I realised that there is a wealth of information out there about what to do if you suspect your child has ADHD but very minimal if you’re an adult. This is possibly due to the misconception, even in the medical world, that it’s something you grow out of or because ADHD can manifest in different ways once you are an adult.
Recently I found myself in conversation with someone who clearly had never had the misfortune of dealing with the public mental health system. The conversation had started about NDIS and the attempted introduction of independent assessments. It was at this point that the topic moved to access and people accessing the NDIS, people who this person believed were stealing resources from those who ‘really’ need it. They believe that those with a mental health condition should access the public mental health system, not steal resources from those who need the NDIS.