Make Amends in Past Relationships to Start a New Future

In a season that is marked by new beginnings and starting out a fresh chapter, it is also important to consider the past and history that has brought us to this point of our lives. Many individuals in recovery from an eating disorder may have struggled with misgivings in the past.

Eating disorders are complex disorders that often create divisions in relationships and families – whether intentionally or as a result of the disease itself. Healing from an eating disorder often means that in order to move forward, it is necessary to extend forgiveness to others or ask for forgiveness as a way of making peace.

Knowing When to Make Amends

Making amends with people in your life who may have been indirectly or directly hurt by you is not an easy task. Though the results of reaching out to others with the intention of restoring a relationship and finding healing are invaluable to the recovery process from an eating disorder. Though this process, it is important to realize and understand that mental illness is not your fault.

Many things that happen as a result of mental illness are heartbreaking and difficult to work through, but there is hope for healing as you engage in your recovery journey. For example, because eating disorders are isolating diseases by nature, you may have found yourself strained in relationships or that those who love you have been hurt as a result of misunderstanding your struggle.

Healing in recovery allows opportunity to make amends in these situations – to come back to those you love and openly communicate about the issues that may have created distance between you. Other scenarios might be an employer who watched you struggle with poor work performance due to sickness, children who experienced an absent parent, or family members hurt by a co-occurring addiction.

Finding Healing Through Forgiveness

Forgiveness is something that takes time on both ends, whether you are the one that is seeking forgiveness or learning to forgive yourself. Be patient with yourself through this process and lean on those you love. Finding hope in a higher power is also helpful for many who are learning to make amends, find peace, and extend forgiveness. While this process is a hard aspect of recovery, it is instrumental to your healing and to helping you regain your sense of peace and wholeness in life.

Community Discussion – Share Your Thoughts Here!

What are things that have helped you make amends in your own life?

About the Author: Crystal is a Masters-level Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) with a specialty focus in eating disorders, maternal/child health and wellness, and intuitive eating. Combining clinical experience with a love of social media and writing, Crystal serves as the Director of Content and Social Media for Eating Disorder Hope/Addiction Hope, where her passion to help others find recovery and healing is integrated into each part of her work.

As a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, Crystal has dedicated her career to helping others establish a healthy relationship with food and body through her work with EDH/AH and nutrition private practice.

The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective of eating disorders. These are not necessarily the views of Eating Disorder Hope, but an effort to offer discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.

We at Eating Disorder Hope understand that eating disorders result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. If you or a loved one are suffering from an eating disorder, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.

Last Updated & Reviewed By: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on December 24, 2016
Published on EatingDisorderHope.com