Eat, drink and be merry...

Our holiday thus far

Has been interesting to say the least 

Today we went to the spice market

An amazing warren of different streets and alleys

Selling everything you can think 

It was really an onslaught of the sense 

The smell of the spices

The colours

The noise of people and music

The sheer hustle and bustle was enormous 

To get to the spice market

We walked over  the Galatar bridge 

There were fisher men all standing in a row with their rods

I was attracted to one 

Who had live fish in a bucket of water

Of course neither of us spoke one another's language

But from his body language

I'm guessing he wanted me to try fishing

I shook my head no

But asked if I could throw the live fish back in to the river 

He laughed

And told his friend 

His friend called me over 

He pointed at his bucket 

Which had a few small fish

And one big one 

Before I knew what was happening 

He picked up the big fish and handed it to me

I didn't know what to do

So I just grabbed it 

And threw it over the bridge

And it landed in the water with a plop

The fisherman and my family thought this was hilarious

Next we soaked up the atmosphere outside the market

And headed for one of the many mosques 

The photos below with the scarves 

Are us going inside

They ask you to cover your shoulders, head and legs

It was really beautiful there

After that 

I wanted to but my Dad a wallet 

And my sister and Mum also wanted to buy one

We approached one man selling them

He showed us a huge variety of wallets 

And told us he would give us a discount for three

We tried to haggle

But he was having none of it

Oh well 

At least we tried 

We then went for a drink of lemonade at a little cafe

Mum wanted a piece of fruit

And asked for a banana 

The man didn't know what she as saying 

And called another man over 

Next thing there were about five men all around her

Trying to figure out what she meant

Eventually Mum got through to them 

Then we saw one of the men going to the market to buy a bunch of bananas

He came back 

And presented Mum with her banana very proudly

We were all in stitches by this point

It's great here 

The people are friendly

The food is good 

It is nicely warm 

Not too much so

Now we are heading out for dinner

So I will see you on the next post..

..

Sunset in Istanbul

What more could you want?

Cup of tea

Good book

Sunset over a beautiful city

Perfect

Turkey

It's our first proper day in Turkey 

We woke at about 8am

And headed down to the basement kitchen for breakfast

It's kind of self service here 

You just take what you want

And head up to the roof terrace

Which has some spectacular views

I was following the rest upstairs

Trying to balance my tray of beautiful food

I made my way in to the elevator 

And promptly spilled a glass of orange juice everywhere

On the floor 

On my feet 

In the elevator

A woman came and helped me clean up

And I headed up to the roof terrace

What a beautiful place to eat your breakfast 

I just had a slice of toast and an egg

As I want to keep my energy up

But I don't want to feel too full

Last night we went out for dinner

I was sure that I wouldn't like the food here 

But it was really delicious

We ordered lots of little sharing plates

Like stuffed peppers 

And various dips

Then we had two lamb dishes which were so yummy

It's nice to eat like that 

As you can just nibble away at whatever you fancy

After that 

We went back to the hotel for an early night

As we were all pretty wrecked

I've been wondering how to manage my meds while I'm here

So I've kind of been experimenting with where and when to take them 

This morning I took them as prescribed

But half way through breakfast

I was on the nod

And falling asleep

So while the others finished their food

I headed back to the room for a little nap

I slept for about 20mins

Met up with the others 

And we headed out to explore 

Our first port of call

Was the Galtara Tower

Which we climbed to see panoramic views of the city

To be honest though 

I couldn't enjoy it or appreciate it

As I was just too groggy

After about an hour 

I made the decision to go back to the hotel 

To recharge my batteries 

And have a sleep

She that's where I am now

I feel like such a light weight

And lesson learned with my meds

I will now either take them at night

Or not take the tablets at all 

All I can do now is rest

And be fighting fit for tomorrow

It's amazing 

I'm sitting here at the balcony of our room

It's 1pm

And I can hear the call to prayer in the distance 

It happens a few times a day

And there is something enchanting about hearing it

I haven't taken many photos yet 

Below is a small selection

Hopefully I will be back to myself tomorrow

And will take Istanbul by storm....

 

Quick Update

Just a short and sweet post to let you know that we arrived safe and sound in Turkey

It was nothing short of a marathon of a journey

Which started at 4am this morning 

When we had to get up to catch the bus to Dublin airport at 5 20am

I had been pre warned by my sister not to go mad with my meds the day we were travelling

So I was very good 

And just took my methadone as prescribed

I decided not to take any tablets for today

The bus journey was stressful 

As we got caught in traffic 

And made it to the airport half an hour late 

So we had to rush to check in

Going through security

I had the usual rig-ma-role of explaining about my meds 

Showing my doctors letter and so on

There's never a problem with it

They just check it because methadone is in liquid form 

We met up with my brother and his partner then

And headed to the gate 

We boarded the plane at 11am

It was a four hour flight

During which I watched two movies

Had something to eat

And also had a little drinky-poo

Ssshhh

Don't tell anyone

We had a taxi prebooked

So when we landed 

We just had to find it

And off we went to the hotel

Where we arrived just before 8pm

I swear the driver drove up the steepest hill I have ever seen 

Scary stuff!

So we are here 

It's our first night

We are wrecked tired but excited to be here 

We are going to get something to eat 

And crash for the night

Here are some photos from today....

Prior preparation prevents poor performance

So it's Monday again

Start of another week

It's hard to believe that it's almost October 

Next thing will be Halloween 

And then 

Well you know what's next after that

I won't say the word 

As I know a lot of people hate that time of year

I love holidays 

Especially Halloween

And the C word

So it's a great time of year for me in that respect

And speaking of holidays 

Tomorrow we are off to Turkey!

We depart at precisely 5 20am tomorrow morning 

I love getting up at an unGodly hour

Getting the bus

Going to the airport

I love it all 

Airports are such interesting places

Especially for people watching 

Packing started earlier this week

I threw everything in to my case

But when I saw how neatly my Mum and sister packed 

I took everything out again

And started fresh

I also did a cull of my clothes

As I had everything but the kitchen sink in there 

I'm a terrible packer

I always bring far too many clothes

I bring clothes I haven't worn in years 

You know 

Just in case 

Better to be safe than sorry I guess

I was in the doctors waiting room this morning 

And there was a girl in there with a really cool hair cut 

Her hair was shaved like mine 

Except on both sides

So the hair in the middle was like a small Mohawk

I am seriously considering getting it done when I come back 

I just have such an urge to do something drastic with my look

Something totally different for me

I guess I am playing around with my lol for a few months now 

I just want to experiment 

And change my look

For so long 

I concentrated on my weight

It was my be all and end all

But now I want to be defined by something other than my weight 

In a moment sadism 

I went to weigh myself the other day

But to my delight 

My scale wasn't working

Do I have no earthly clue what my weight is 

And you know what?

I have absolutely no shit to give

Not one iota 

And it feels great 

I was trying on clothes for my holiday

Dresses and skirts and tops 

I am slowly but surely finding out how to dress my shape in the best way

And developing my own style

It's great the way you can play around with clothes 

And find out what suits 

For Turkey

I am bringing lots of skirts and light trousers 

As well as a couple of dresses

While trying on clothes 

I was able to see what looks good on me

What is not so good 

And was able to do all this without having a major meltdown about how I look

That my friends 

Is progress

I had to get a letter from my doctor this morning

To say that I will be carrying 448mls of methadone

It's a controlled drug

And it's also in liquid forms so they always check it

But I have been all around the world with my meds

And have never had a problem

I was home

And putting my letter in my hand bag

When I found a letter from last when I went to the UK

I was surprised to see that I was on ten mls less of methadone back then

That is a distinct lack of progress 

And is in fact going backwards

It makes me wonder will I ever come off this drug

And the thing is

I would be perfectly happy to stay on it for the rest of my life

Once an addict

Always an addict 

I'm assuming I can blog from Turkey 

I will keep you all updated 

And of course supply you with many many photos 

Summer 2015

I I was looking back over photos of the past summer

And I thought I would share some of them with you

You have probably seen them before 

But it's nice to look back and remember

Here goes....

Darkness to Light walk May

I break the stigma campaign for Healthline

New glasses June

Queen Maeve's trail

Shells cafe

Heading to the theatre

The Blues sisters

Our for dinner in Derry

Mocktails in Belfast

View from Stormont

Cuddles

Hanging out in Bundoran

Mums retirement

On the road

Ouch!!!

Happy Birthday!

Dealing with comments

One of the most difficult aspects of recovery

Right from very early recovery

Is dealing with comments about your weight/shape or appearance from others 

And sometimes 

We might not even be in recovery when we get these comments

And that makes it even more difficult

I can only speak for myself 

But from talking to others 

And reading your blogs

It seems it's a universal problem for us ED girls

I've been dealing with these comments for years

As my weight yo-yoed up and down 

I can remember being devastated after someone told me I looked well

Or had a complete meltdown after a comment about how I looked

I can remember about this time last year

Someone commented that I had 'filled out'

I had to take some really deep breathes after that one

 Other comments range from

'You look really well'

'You look great'

'You've really improved'

'You have gained weight'

And on and on

The thing is 

That I know that people want to acknowledge that we are in a better place

They want to acknowledge that we look better

But the thing is

We might not be in a better place

We might have gained weight because we are binge eating

We might be still purging 

And even if we are in recovery 

It's dodgy territory

As I know up until recently 

When someone told me that I looked well

I immediately equated that in my head to

'You've gained weight'

The words no self respecting anorectic or bulimic ever wants to hear

Hearing those words when you are in a fragile state of mind 

Can really upset us

And send us straight back in to arms of our ED

In my family 

My Mother warned everyone years ago

Not to comment on my weight or appearance

So my family is well trained 

Instead they would compliment my hair

Or my outfit

Or make up

Which is much easier to take

For us ED girls

Weight is a very private

Very personal matter

We don't appreciate comments about the one thing we hang our self worth on

We take such comments to heart

Although I know people don't understand  how destructive these comments can be 

Mary was a great example

Over the years that I saw her

She never once commented on my weight or appearance

And I remember her telling me that she never comments on anyone's weight

Whether they have an ED or not

I like that philosophy 

Because you just never know how someone is going to take such a comment

My neighbour called over a couple of days ago

A man in his fifties I would say 

He asked about my health

I said I was in good form 

He said that I was looking 'exceptionally well'

This could have been cause for a complete meltdown 

But I was able to rationalise it in my head

These people were used to looking at me  very underweight

And now I look different

I look healthy 

Well 

My hair is thick and shiny

My skin has a glow

My teeth have been improved beyond recognition

I now take a bit of time and care with my appearance 

So I guess it's a combination of all these things 

Not just my weight

As well as weight

Recovery changes a lot more about us

I look back at photos of me when I was ill

I have a haunted look about me

Dead in the eyes 

Pale

Gaunt

Now that I am feeding myself 

And looking after myself better

There is a light back in my eyes 

It's like I've been switched on

When I was switched off for so long 

Another reason why I don't like to focus on weight

Is the whole fat and skinny shaming thing

If you are in the UK

You have probably heard about all the flack that Cheryl Cole is getting over her weight

People are saying that she is too skinny

And she is really being harassed 

Cheryl has hit back

Saying that she has been under a lot of stress lately

And also that it's not ok to skinny shame someone

That it's just as bad as fat shaming someone 

I agree with Cheryl 

Focusing and commenting on someone's weight is never a good thing

I'm sure you've all seen the celebrity magazines 

Where they discuss who has lost or gained weight 

The photos of people who have lost weight

Or those who have gained weight

Or have cellulite 

Or an extra bit of fat

It's outrageous that these magazines can do this 

And get away with it

Shaming someone's body is how eating disorders are born and reinforced 

At the moment 

I have made a kind of peace with the comments that I get about my weight and appearance 

I can now say thank you for the compliment 

And don't file it away in my brain

To take out and berate myself with later on

I think part of the reason that I am playing around with my look at the moment 

Is that I don't want to define myself by my weight anymore

I don't want to be known as the 'underweight girl'

Or the 'sick one'

I don't even want to be known as the 'girl in recovery'

I don't want to be defined by anything that pertains to my weight 

I am now the girl who is living her life in the best way that she knows how

I am the girl who likes to look a bit different 

The girl who is a MaMa to two beautiful dogs 

The girl who fights every single day to be a better person than the day before 

The girl who despite what her body looks like

Is a good person

I don't want my weight to be tied to my self worth and my self esteem any more

Because for so long I measured my worth in pounds and ounces 

I starved 

Binged 

And purged my way through my twenties 

I am determined that my thirties won't be like that 

Recovery can not happen without weight restoration 

If we want to get well

We have to accept the fact that part of getting well is regaining weight to a healthy range

For me 

My weight re-gain was quite traumatic 

As it happened incredibly quickly

Faster than my mind could make sense of it

Before I knew it 

I was a healthy weight 

In an ideal world

I would have gained it slowly and steadily 

But like a lot of things in my life

It happened almost in spite of myself

Right now

My weight is one of the highest numbers I have ever seen 

But for some reason

I am ok with that 

I'm ok with being healthy 

Because the pros of it out weigh the cons by a hell of a lot

With a healthy body comes a healthy mind 

A clear mind 

I'm not willing to sacrifice my sanity for a low weight any more

I can remember being in treatment 

Obviously I was encouraged by staff and my family to gain weight

At a rate of 1kg a week

But I just couldn't get my head around this 

Weight gain was a fate worse than death in my mind 

I just couldn't do it

Couldn't even consider it 

But now

Now than I have come out the other side 

I have to tell you that it's one of the best things I have ever done 

I swear I didn't realise how shitty I felt until I started to feel better 

I had become so used to feeling awful

That it had become normal

Now I know what it feels like to truly feel good

  I can only hope that my experience will go some way to helping others

To helping you my beautiful blogging friends

It's all very well your doctor 

Or your family telling you that weight restoration is essential

But when someone who has been there tells you 

It holds more weight I think

Because that person has been there

Experienced it

And lived it

As I have often said 

As quickly as things can go belly up

They can also turn around just as quickly 

In AA they say that if you follow the programme 

You will be amazed before you are halfway through 

That you will know a new kind of peace 

As well as the 12 steps 

There are also 12 promises 

Things that are guaranteed to happen if you stay clean and sober 

And work the programme 

Things like 

You will now know how to handle situations that used to baffle you 

For me 

Recovery has enriched my life beyond words

My life has changed beyond recognition 

And I am eternally grateful for that 

I just want youth know that it is possible for you too 

It's right there 

You just have to reach out and grab it

In the rooms 

They say that the first times you embark on recovery it is a gift

The second time you work for it

For me

This has been true 

But no matter how many times I slipped or relapsed 

My recovery was always there 

It will always  be there 

Always

Please remember that it is never too late

Never 

You can do this 

Heck if I can get well 

Then anyone can 

And you deserve it

God knows we have suffered enough

And if you don't believe in yourself 

Let us believe in you until you do

Your life is too precious to waste on this cruel illness 

You are worth much much more 

I promise you that