Recovery Toolkit 🤎
A place filled with gentle recovery support, grounding tools, coping strategies and reminders on the difficult days.
Whether you need comfort, distraction, reassurance or simply somewhere to pause for a moment. This toolkit is here for you whenever you may need it 🥺
Right Now, Try This 🤎
Some moments in recovery feel unbearable. This section is here to help you through the urges, the panic, the guilt and the exhaustion. Start with one small step.
If you feel guilty after eating 🍽️
- Place a hand on your chest and breathe slowly.
- Remind yourself that your body deserves nourishment.
- Change your environment, step into a different room.
If you want to restrict ⚠️
- Acknowledge the urge without acting on it.
- Message someone safe or stay around people.
- Focus on getting through the next 15 minutes,
If you feel overwhelmed 🌧️
- Try the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise.
- Drink some cold or hold an ice cube.
- You do not have to solve everything today.
If you’re struggling with body image today 🪞
- Wear something that feels safe and comfortable.
- Avoid checking mirrors or comparing yourself to others.
- Your worth was never meant to be measured by your body.
Emergency Support Notes 🤎
For the moments you need reminding that your eating disorder is not the only voice worth listening to. Choose the support that feels closest to what you need right now.
5-4-3-2-1 Technique 🌿
If your thoughts feel overwhelming or panic starts taking over, try bringing yourself back slow:
👁️Name 5 things you can see around you.
🖖Name 4 things you can touch or feel.
👂Name 3 things you can hear.
👃Name 2 things you can smell.
👅Name 1 thing you can taste.
Focus on the room around you instead of the thoughts inside your head.
Sound Grounding 🎧
If your thoughts feel to loud, try focusing on one sound instead of every thought:
🎧Put your headphones or earphones on.
🎧Focus closely on the lyrics, instruments or background sounds.
🎧Play calming music etc rain sounds, white noise or a comfort playlist.
🎧Repeat the same song if it helps.
You do not need to listen to every anxious thought your mind gives you.
Anxiety Grounding Methods 🤎
When anxiety, panic or overwhelming thoughts start to take over it can make everything feel loud or difficult to control.
These grounding methods are here for the moments you need to slow things down, reconnect with yourself.
Cold Water/Ice Method 🧊
If anxiety starts making your body feel panicked, disconnected or out of control:
🧊Hold ice cubes in your hands for a few moments.
🧊Splash cold water onto your face slowly.
🧊Focus on the cold sensation and your breathing.
🧊Let your nervous system interrupt the spiral for a moment.
🧊Remind yourself that you are here, safe and grounded right now.
Sometimes reconnecting with your body physically can help calm the panic mentally.
Physical Anchoring 🤍
If your anxiety is making you feel shaky:
🤍Press both feel firmly into the floor.
🤍Hold onto something soft, cold or textured.
🤍Place a hand on your chest and focus on your breathing.
🤍Remind yourself of where you are and that this feeling will pass.
Grounding your body can help bring your mind back with it.
Box Breathing 🌬️
If your breathing feels fast, heavy or difficult to slow down, try following this:
🌬️Breathe in slowly for 4 seconds.
🌬️Hold your breath for 4 seconds.
🌬️Breathe out slowly for 4 seconds.
🌬️Hold again for 4 seconds.
🌬️Repeat this a few times without rushing yourself.
Your breathing can help remind your body that this moment will pass.
Thought Dump 📝
If your mind feels overcrowded with thoughts, try getting everything out onto paper:
📝Write every thought down exactly as it comes to you.
📝Don't worry about spelling or making sense.
📝Let yourself write honestly without judging your thoughts.
📝Sometimes thoughts feel less powerful once they aren't trapped in your head.
You don't have to carry every thought silently on your own.
When everything feels heavy, making a drink can give you something small and grounding to focus on.
Make A Comfort Drink ☕️
Step Away From The Spiral 🌙
Put your phone down for a little bit, move to a different room. Sometimes creating distance from the spiral can help your mind slow down too.
Protect Your Peace Online 📵
Mute, unfollow or block content that makes you want to compare, restrict or relapse. Protecting your recovery online is just as important as protecting it in real life.
Tools For Difficult Days 🌿
Difficult days don't make you weak, failing or "bad" at recovery. These are small tools, comforts and gentle things to come back to when you mind feels heavy and getting through the day feels harder than usual.
When your thoughts feel loud, try making your space feel softer and safer around you.
Create A Safe Space 🧸
Stay Around People After Eating 🫶
If you struggle after meals, try staying around people instead of isolating yourself immediately. Being around people can quieten the urges.
Resting Without Feeling Guilt 🛏️
Some days recovery is emotionally exhausting. If your body feels tired, let yourself rest without convincing yourself you need to "earn" it first. Rest is needed too, not just productivity.
Write everything down exactly as it comes out instead of holding it all in your head.
Let Your Thoughts Leave Your Head 📓
Take A Break From Mirrors 🪞
If body image thoughts feel too much, give yourself permission to step away from mirrors and body checking. Constantly looking for flaws will never bring you peace.
Focus Only On Today 🤎
You don't need to have your whole recovery figured out right now. Focus on getting through today, the next meal, the next hour instead of overwhelming yourself with everything at once. Small steps still move you forward.
A Safe Space For Your Recovery🤎
This is your space to come back to whenever you need it, a place to feel safe, understood and not alone.
A place filled with honest support, gentle guidance and people who truly understand what recovery can feel like.
Take what helps, leave what doesn't. Come back whenever you need to 🤎
Free to join, always.
Feeling Guilty After Eating
Feeling guilt after meals doesn't mean you should stop eating. It often means your eating disorder is losing control and fighting back.
Missing Your Eating Disorder
Missing your eating disorder does not mean you truly want your life to be controlled forever. You're allowed to grieve something that once made you feel "safe".
What Recovery Actually Looks Like
A gentle space to breathe, rest, and find softness on the difficult days. These are slow reminders for your heart, gathered here to remind you that you are safe and supported.
Crying Over Food
Crying during recovery does not make you dramatic or weak. Recovery asks you to do things that feel terrifying while your brain is trying to keep you stuck.
Feeling Tired All The Time
Recovery is physically and mentally exhausting. Your body and brain are trying to repair after surviving for so long.
Body Image Getting Worse Before It Gets Better
Sometimes body image feels harder in recovery before it softens because your eating disorder is no longer numbing everything else underneath it.
Wanting To Relapse
Wanting to relapse does not erase your progress. Many people in recovery experience moments where giving up feels easier than continuing.
Add One Extra Ingredient
Add one thing your eating disorder usually tells you to avoid.
One Bite Is Still Progress
You do not need to finish the whole thing for it to count.
Gentle Fear Food Challenges
Fear foods can feel overwhelming, emotional and impossible sometimes. Recovery is not about forcing yourself into terrifying situations overnight. It is about taking small steps that slowly teach your brain that food is not something to fear.
Eat It With A Safe Food
Pair the fear food with something that feels more comfortable.
Repeat The Same Fear Food More Than Once
Recovery often comes from repetition. The more your brain experiences the food safely, the less powerful the fear slowly has.
Eat With Distraction
Watch a comfort show, call someone or listen to music while eating.
Buy The Fear Food
Even buying it and having it in the house is a recovery step.
Stay Away From Mirrors Afterwards
Body checking after eating often increases panic and guilt instead of helping.
Set A "No Compensation" Timer
Challenge yourself to wait 20-30 minutes before acting on the urges to purge.
What parts of myself have I lost while trying to keep my eating disorder?
If these prompts helped you slow down or feel a little more understood, I created my digital recovery journals to gently support you through recovery.
They include reflective prompts, grounding pages, coping tools and safe spaces to process recovery honestly and without judgement.
Explore
Digital Journals 📓
Whenever you feel ready to pause, these prompts are here to meet you with kindness. There is no right or wrong way to reflect.
These prompts will change every few days to give you new spaces to reflect, process and reconnect with yourself throughout recovery.
Gentle Journal Prompts 🌿
If my recovery voice could comfort me today, what would it say?
What am I truly searching for underneath the need to control food, my body or myself?
What Your Eating Disorder Might Be Hiding 📝
Eating disorders are rarely just about food, weight or appearance. Sometimes they become ways of coping, controlling emotions, numbing pain or surviving things we never fully learnt how to process. Recovery is not only about eating again, it is slowly understanding what your eating disorder has been trying to protect you from.
Control
Sometimes controlling food feels easier than sitting with emotions.
Numbness
Eating disorders can make people feel emotionally disconnected for so long that recovery starts bringing feelings back to the surface.
Self-Worth
Many people begin believing their worth depends on their body because their eating disorder slowly replaces their identity.
Safety
Even unhealthy coping mechanisms can feel "safe" when they have been part of your life for a long time.
Starts To Feel Like Your Friend
Sometimes your ED can feel more familiar than the people around you, you can feel more scared to lose it than to lose anyone else, even when you know it is hurting you.
Pause the Spiral 🌿
When thoughts become loud, simply stop for 60 seconds. You don't have to fix the feeling, just sit with it until the initial wave of panic softens.
This space is here to gently protect your recovery during difficult moments. Think of these cards as anchors to hold onto when things feel uncertain or scary.
Relapse Prevention 🚨
Change Your Space 🪟
If you're feeling a strong urge, move to a different room or step outside. Fresh air and a change of scenery can help reset your nervous system.
Nourish Your Body 🥣
Eating is an act of defiance against your ED. If you're scared of a slip, remind yourself that one regular meal can anchor your recovery for the whole day.
You Are Still Trying 🤍
You are doing something very hard. Be as kind to yourself as you would be to a dear friend. Recovery is a journey of small, brave choices.
Reach Out 🫶
Isolation is the ED's favorite place. Text a safe friend or join the community thread. Sharing the fear takes away its power to control you.
Difficult Night Support
Nights can feel incredibly heavy in recovery. Everything often feels louder when the world goes quiet... the urges, the loneliness, the overthinking, the guilt after eating and the thoughts telling you to give up on yourself. If tonight feels difficult, try slowing everything down instead of reacting immediately to every thought your mind gives you. Put your phone down for a little while if social media is making it worse. Put on a comfort show, make your space softer with blankets, dim your lights and remind yourself you don't need to solve your whole recovery tonight. Difficult nights do pass.
Need Support With Something Else?
Recovery can feel different for everybody and there may be moments or struggles that are not included on this page. If there is something you are finding difficult in recovery and would like support for, you can submit it below anonymously. I can create future toolkit sections, grounding tools or recovery support around the things people are struggling with the most.
Take what you need from this page and I want you to know you're not alone and if you haven't begun recovery yet I know you can.