Eating Disorders/Healing, Eating/Food, healing, Inspiration

F*ck You Devil. The Diary of an Anorexic.

August 2, 2012

“The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he did not exist.” ― Charles Baudelaire

Looking through my old journal I find myself at a set of train tracks which if I choose to cross will take me to the dusty town I used to live in, filled with nights of pressing my ribs to make sure they still protruded and days of heavy eyelids from not sleeping. If I choose to cross the tracks I can go back to the barren land of self-abuse and hatred with it’s county jail filled with only one occupant: me.

If I choose to cross the tracks I will meet again with the devil and shake his hand firmly, look him square in the eye and say politely: Fuck Off.

So, here I go. I am at a set of tracks and I will cross them and go back to that dusty little town so I can take back what I left there. So I can grow and expand and share with anyone what is truly possible in terms of healing and discovery.

I will not go back to that town and live there. I will go back and reclaim what was mine.

I will share what I found with you, there in that old cowboy town.

8/2/1995
 

I am already dreading waking up tomorrow morning because I wake up so depressed. Tomorrow I will NOT wake up depressed. I refuse! I am in control of my life. Of my emotions. No more waking up depressed, no more binge eating. I am the only person in control of my life. No more feeling sorry for myself. 

Tomorrow I will not feel guilty for all the food I ate tonight. I will MAYBE eat some fruit. I will not be sad. I will not obsess. I will get in shape and lose weight. I won’t night eat anymore. I am certainly in control. I am NOT fat.

Why do I hate myself so much? Why am I so self destructive? Why do I feel so down and unworthy? Why do I feel so ugly? Why do I obsess over food? Why do I have such a fucked up relationship with food? 

Well… No More!

I am so bloated. I am not eating anything else today. All week I ate so much. Pasta, potato chips, Indian food. Raisins! My new diet starts today. My does my face look so fucking ugly? 

I don’t want to be this way. I want to be normal.

From now on I can deal with hunger. I’ll eat my own hunger.
 

~~~~

There is nothing alive in that town anymore. There are some cobwebs and old bones and skeletons. I took back any leftover parts of me that remained back in that town on a dirt road on the other side of the tracks. I have crossed back over an cobwebbed brought back with me those pieces I would like to share in the name of What Is Possible.

So what is possible? 

~Joy.

~Healthy relationships.

~Eating without feeling guilty. In fact, eating with bliss!

~Looking back at old diaries and not recognizing them, as if you are reading fiction.

~Waking up happy.

~Not determining your worth by your weight.

~Letting go of old broken mind tapes.

~ Inspiring others to heal.

and so so much more.

I found this paragraph in the same entry form 1995 and I thought it was very hopeful as it is an utterly true prediction of who I am today, in 2012.

8/2/1995
 
I want to be happy and secure and not worry and have friends and enjoy life. I am the only one in control of my life. I, not anyone else, am the only person who can make myself happy. I am the only possible person who can be in control of my life.

~~~~~~

That was a small glimmer of what was always inside me, even back then in that dusty town in 1995, a small glint of light appeared if only for a moment as if reflected off the back of car. It may have taken me 17 years or so to trace the source of that light but I can safely say I have captured it, bottled it and am reproducing it here for you.

You can heal. Whoever you are.

In 1995 I wrote I am the only person in control of my life. Maybe I read it in a book, or maybe I really wanted to believe it, who knows. I certainly didn’t believe it at the time. I didn’t live it.

The devil, not me, controlled my life back then.

So Fuck You Devil. Fuck You Anorexia. Fuck You any voice in the head that says You will always be this way. You will always be stuck.

The devil tries to come back every now and again, sometimes in disguise. But I am armed now. And ready.

He cannot trick me into thinking he doesn’t exist anymore. I have seen him.

And I have beat him down.

 

Jennifer Pastiloff is the founder of The Manifest-Station. Her work has been featured on The Rumpus, The Nervous Breakdown, Jezebel, Salon, and more. Jen leads her signature Manifestation Retreats & Workshops all over the world. The next retreat is to Ojai, Calif over Labor Day. Check out jenniferpastiloff.com for all retreat listings and workshops to attend one in a city near you. Next up: SeattleLondon, Atlanta, South Dakota, NYC, Dallas, Tucson & The Berkshires (guest speaker Canyon Ranch.) She tweets/instagrams at @jenpastiloff.

You Might Also Like

No Comments

  • Reply barbarapotter August 2, 2012 at 11:48 am

    You sure have beat him down for sure and I cannot express in words how proud I am of you and how much you have given.me.

  • Reply Denise Olsen August 2, 2012 at 12:00 pm

    I love this…Powerful, truthful, proof that we need every step in our life to become who we are meant to be…those glimmers from 1995 were from a soul who knew its own destiny..I don’t have an eating disorder-but we all have our demons. F*ck the Devil is right…Much love Om Shanti

  • Reply Laura Badger August 2, 2012 at 1:48 pm

    F((k off, Satan! lol I like to laugh at Satan!

  • Reply jamesvincentknowles August 2, 2012 at 3:50 pm

    “Fuck You any voice in the head that says You will always be this way. You will always be stuck.”

    hear, hear.

    • Reply ManifestYogaJen August 2, 2012 at 3:51 pm

      thanks JVK. That voice can be a real sonofabitch, huh?

      • Reply jamesvincentknowles August 2, 2012 at 5:09 pm

        rabid mo-fo fuckin’ fucker. as you know, love (which is way way way more than a nice word), absolutely scares the crap outta that sneaky, deceitful, lying, fake, tenacious-temptation-trickster, slandering accuser; tries to make us believe those lies, to negate the truth and make bullshit seem true.

  • Reply Ella Tiberio August 2, 2013 at 4:09 pm

    powerful powerful HOPE and healing for so many of us Jen… No words of mine are adequate but these… THANK YOU. THANK YOU . THANK YOU for yours. Yes.. the devil is real and YES you have beaten him down! Well done!!

  • Reply Mark DeMasi August 2, 2013 at 4:28 pm

    So proud to say I know you in this small way Jenn. You have been through so much and could have easily just given up…but you did not. You are a beacon of eternal light. _Mark D.

  • Reply Elle August 2, 2013 at 4:49 pm

    Can’t believe I’m responding. Typically I read your blog and keep my comments to myself. Today your piece “F*ck You Devil” was really POWERFUL. Thank you from the bottom of my anorexic heart. I’m still battling at almost 47, but you just gave me a power boost and the desire to draw a line in the sand. Time to take my life back and live it my way. Please know YOU have and will continue to make a positive impact on my life. Again I thank you.

  • Reply Sarah August 2, 2013 at 5:29 pm

    You are amazing. I love everything you write, say, do. EVERYTHING. I hope to meet you some day. <3

  • Leave a Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.