You dearly miss the people at first and later the support you had.

 

You will eventually lose contact (minus social media) with those you were in with.

 

Everyone on the outside will have unrealistic expectations.

 

You may have unrealistic expectations.

 

You’ll wish you could add all the good staff on Facebook.

 

You’l miss all (or most) of the staff and maybe even write them letters.

 

You’ll be so grateful for the simple freedoms. Hello shaving when you please, long showers, flushing your own toilet, going to your room whenever you want, and leaving the house at will!

 

You’ll be completely lost at times and wish you could give those freedoms right back.

 

You will absolutely need a good support network of friends – not just your treatment team.

 

Suddenly talking about bowel movements and GI issues isn’t acceptable.

 

You’ll find the real world to be a scary place and forget how you ever lived in it.

 

It will feel strange not having or being able to share your thoughts and feelings constantly.

 

There will be bad days and lapses and relapses but this is normal, expected, and okay. What matters is that you get back up and continue to stay in recovery.

 

You will get “you look healthy” all the time.

 

You will also get comments on your body. Ignore them.

 

The worst possible advice will come from people who know nothing about recovery from an eating disorder.

 

You’ll begin to find success in the little things, like having one snack, rather than only becoming proud of yourself when you have the huge fear food ten times and go 1000 days without behaviors.

 

You’ll realize all those “dumb skills” actually work in the real world.

 

You will need all the support you can get. Take the PHP/IOP, extra therapy appointments, and support groups. Not all of us are so lucky.

 

Yes, people will stop asking where you were (especially if you shared it on Facebook).

 

Its healthy to distance yourself from sick people – even those you just met in treatment.

 

Every single example/memory/funny thing you think of will be residential related.

 

You’ll oddly miss vitals checks. Yes there’s something satisfying about staff doing BP, HR, temps and asking you 10,000 times to rate your depression, anxiety, etc.

 

You’ll be able to recite any DBT concepts without missing a beat.

 

You will miss process group even though they almost always sucked.

 

There will be a zillion and one mixed feelings about your time in treatment.

 

You’ll wish for more time to explore whichever city you were in.

 

The recovery high does fade eventually which makes things difficult.

 

Some days you want to go back and others you wouldn’t without a tranquilizer.

 

The scale is never a good idea.

 

Diet talk is E V E R Y W H E R E outside of the treatment bubble.

 

You’ll spend a very long time wondering if recovery is really worth it. (Hint: it is!)

 

You’ll miss every single part. (Yes, even the poop checks, being forced to face your biggest fears 6 times a day, and extreme boredom.)

 

You’ll realize that you CAN do this!