Because it’s a bank holiday weekend and I have been struggling a little, lately; I am going to stay with one of those rare friends who can miraculously reel you back in – when your head is starting to drift – and help you put down the baggage for a while.
I am lucky to have a few of these precious friendships. They are like gold dust. The people that ground us when it feels like we’re being swept away; and offer a refuge when it all gets too much.
We won’t talk about things too heavily, I don’t think, though there are no limits on what we are “allowed” or able to say. And we won’t, I imagine, try and pull to pieces the months since our last face to face chat, although so much has been happening on both sides of the country –
But I’ll shrug off some of the heaviness that I’ve been wearing in the past month and we’ll slip, I hope, back into the easy conversation and the effortless friendship that I am starting to really miss.
Touchstones are important in recovery. When you often feel alone, it really matters that there are people around who you can reach out to and trust.
Honest relationships are difficult, when you’ve struggled with an eating disorder; or I, at least, found that my illness tended to feel threatened, and intervene –
But every now and then, someone comes along who is not deterred by the defences; and can see beyond the mess – or behind the mask – or around the illness, and then –
There is a sigh of relief as you can let the tension out –
And a rush of lightness as your shoulders start to lift –
And the sense of anchoring, when your feet seem to keep skimming off the surface –
Because the friendship comes without condition and it feels, in an almost inexplicable way, like a kind of coming home.
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Related stuff….People Power; The How Do I Help Question; The Little Things and How To Make Friends…
Tags: Friends and Family, getting back in touch, re-connecting, the human head
