Service with a Smile

Today, I saw my new friend engaging in the earliest behaviors of an eating disorder.  Nothing too serious right now...just hard core dieting and over exercising.  She's in the honeymoon phase where it all seems like a great idea, cuz it's working.  I was so scared for her, I couldn't focus on anything else most of the evening.  When we finished class, I would have kinda liked to go home and cook dinner and read, but instead, I asked her to go out to dinner with me.  We talked a lot about moderation rather than extremes, and I told her what I wish someone would have told me at the beginning of my eating disorder- the one thing that could have stopped me.  I wouldn't have cared about the physical damage it does to your throat, stomach, organs, teeth, that it stops certain body processes, or even the craziness and mental anguish.  The one thing that would have changed my mind was that in the long run, it DOES NOT WORK.  The whole point is to lose weight, and my eating disorder caused me to gain weight.  She was really receptive to hearing it, and is still at a point where she may be able to be reasonable and rational.  I may be able to save her the trouble of getting farther into this.  What a wonderful thing to be able to do.  I was really excited about helping her.  I wasn't thinking about my own recovery, or service for the sake of service.  I really cared, and wanted to take time out of my schedule to reach out.

The fact that I was so into this-helping her if I can- makes me feel a lot better about myself as a person too.  Maybe I'm not quite as selfish as I thought...maybe.