Showing posts with label bulimia nervosa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bulimia nervosa. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Writing Wednesday: Withered (which I know I'll need to change)

As always, this is unedited.  I don't think I've even read it since I wrote it.    This may or may not be my next project after Sad.

      Entering the cafeteria, we looked around to see where we might want to sit.  We walked slowly down the aisles of  industrial white school lunch tables until we heard someone say, “You ladies need a place to sit?”
     Following the voice, we found a table of boys.  All staring and smiling.  At Sarah.
     “You can sit on my lap,” a tall thin boy with wispy shoulder length strawberry blond hair and a nose full of freckles said.
     The boy next to him, the one that had called us in the first place, punched him hard in the arm.  “Ow!” he yelled, rubbing what would probably a newly forming bruise.
     “Never mind Jack.  He’s an idiot.  What he meant to say was that he’d love it if you beautiful ladies would sit at our table.”
     Sarah looked over to me, I just shrugged, and we headed over to their table.  Not wanting to sit too close to Jack, we took a seat on the other side of our host.
     “I’m Chad,” he said, offering his hand.  He was something to look at, light brown hair, sparkling blue eyes, and dimples that could make even the most frigid girl melt.  
     “So, you two are new this year, huh?” Chad asked, mostly to Sarah as his eyes hadn’t left her face since we sat down.
     “Yeah, I’m from Colorado, and Willa here is from Oklahoma,” Sarah answered.
       “What do you do in Oklahoma?  Tip cows?” Jack asked then snort laughed.
     “Yeah, cow tipping, never heard that one before,” I said.  “And we’re all rednecks, love country music, drive pick-ups and wear cowboy hats.”
     “Jack, stop being such a douche,” Chad said.
     “What?” Jack said with a mouth full of peanut butter sandwich.
     Just then, Veronica, our walking dead tour guide from orientation showed up, food tray in hand, two more walking dead girls, twins to be exact,  behind her.  Veronica looked right at Chad and said, “What are they doing here?”
     “I invited them to sit with us.”
     “Well uninvite them.”
     “Ronnie, come on.”
     She exasperated and took a seat on the other side of Jack, her entourage sat across from her.
     “Ronnie, this is Sarah and-”
     “We’ve met,” she said digging into her school lunch, which consisted of nothing more than a pile of carrots and an apple juice.
     Chad then turned to us, gestured toward the twins and said, “And this is Blythe and Bliss.”
     “It means joy,” they said in unison, reminding me of murderous evil twins from a horror movie.
     “Creepy,” I whispered in Sarah’s ear.  She giggled.
     The time passed quickly as Veronica nibbled on her carrots, Chad talked Sarah’s ear off, Jack told stupid blonde jokes, and the scary twins did everything in unison from shoveling food in their mouth to drinking from their pop cans.  The bell rang and Sarah and I headed toward the exit.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Top 4 Worst Experiences of My Life: # 3 Affliction

This is where it gets personal for me.
I used to hate myself. Period. At the time this seemed rational, but of course with age and experience I see it was a lack of self confidence in myself that caused these feelings of self loathing. At any rate from age 18 to 23 I suffered from Bulimia. I'm sure you know what that is, so I won't bother explaining. The reasons behind it are too personal to share, and don't really matter anymore anyhow.

The disease started off slowly, but gained speed and at its apex I was purging anywhere from 2 to 15 times a day, after every little thing I ate. It became an art form of sorts. I knew which foods made it easier, which were harder. I knew drinking liquids would help the process. At work, I knew which bathrooms were empty at what times of the day. I even convinced myself after I ate that I was sick, I couldn't possibly keep anything down. Yep. I was sick.

I was controlled by it. It was more an addiction for me than a disease, like meth to the drug user, or booze to the alcoholic. I couldn't get through the day without it. I finally confided in my boyfriend (who will remain nameless because he was a big jerk) that I had a problem. He told me to stop, as if that would solve anything. And as with any other addiction, you know how easy that must have been. I tried to control it, but couldn't

Rock bottom hit. I started getting shooting pains in my gut, I couldn't stay awake, my body was rebelling against me, making demands, telling me to quit or die. I finally told my parents I needed help. Between them, my work, and my future husband, (who is not the boyfriend I mentioned before) I got the help I needed.

It's been about seventeen years, but like with all addicts, I've relapsed a couple of times since, and I still struggle on occasion, especially on dark days. For the most part I've overcome those obstacles of my late teens, early adult years, and I urge anyone with similar problems to get help before it's too late. Talk to someone, your parents, a friend, teacher, or counselor. Many work places have mental health programs for all sorts of afflictions and addictions.
Please feel free to comment or question. Come back tomorrow and read my # 2 worst life experience.

My Dad. He's awesome.

John Messina, Personal Injury Attorney

Total Pageviews