Self-Care Self-care is essential during these stressful and unpredictable times. For a woman with an eating disorder, self-care is difficult in the best of times. You may be experiencing more violent anxiety now as you and people and systems you’ve counted on to care for you are being strained by the current economic turbulence. Now more than ever, you need a trustworthy and caring system to keep yourself functional and safe. The first step is to awaken to your personal strengths.

Give Yourself Breathing Space Please say the serenity prayer ten times three times a day. Say it regardless of how you feel. Just keep saying it. Give yourself time and space for some breathing room. Let some kindness sink into your psyche. “God (or some force beyond myself), grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Wake Up to Helpful Possibiities

If you are lost in grief and fear, if you are paralyzed with despair I suggest you, one time, turn the serenity prayer around to give yourself an opportunity to step outside your own negative thinking. For example, God (or some force beyond myself) give me the emotional turbulence to try to change things I cannot change.

Give me the fear to be paralyzed about the things I can change.

Give me the ignorance to not know the difference. You may discover you’ve been repeating in your heart and mind the reverse of the serenity prayer. If so, then you are reinforcing undermining beliefs. This can be a wonderful wake up call that will allow you to reevaluate your situation in a fresh and more positive light. FYI Medicinenet has an excellent article on stress: causes, poor and healthy stress management methods, unhealthy and healthy stress responses.

You are more positive than you may appreciate If you are reading this post you are not as paralyzed and frightened as you suppose. You are on the internet looking for something beyond yourself. You want to go beyond your present limits, whatever they are. You have hope and you are directing your energy toward finding what will help you or even turn your life around. Whether you are looking to help yourself or someone you love, the serenity prayer, used as a meditation practice, can help you free your creativity and reach through your desperation and paralysis to unexpected and positive possibilities.