"And for the first time in years, I heard something different than the voice that had ruled my life. For so long, there had been this other voice. Dominating. Controlling. It told me exactly what I could and couldn't eat, when to eat, and how much to eat. And the convincing part? It made me believe it was helping me. Protecting me. Keeping me safe. But I wasn't safe. I was trapped."
"Here's what happens biologically when we feel like we have no choice: our nervous system registers it as a threat. Think about it: when an animal is trapped with no escape route, it goes into survival mode. Fight, flight, or freeze. Our bodies are wired the same way. When we operate from a place of rigid rules and "have to's" and "must not's," our nervous system stays activated. We're constantly braced for danger. There's no room to relax, to trust ourselves, or to simply be."
"We're running on a treadmill of control that never stops. And if you're someone whose brain works differently, if rigid structures have always felt suffocating, this feeling of being trapped is even more intense. Some of us need flexibility. We need options. We need space to move and adjust and find what actually works for us, not what's supposed to work according to someone else's plan."
A person confronted leftover cake and noticed a shift away from a long-dominant, controlling eating-disorder voice. The eating-disorder voice enforced rigid rules about what, when, and how much to eat while claiming to protect safety, but instead created entrapment. Perceived lack of choice registers as threat in the nervous system, triggering survival responses like fight, flight, or freeze and keeping the body chronically activated. Rigid structures prevent relaxation, self-trust, and effective recovery. People whose brains need flexibility experience intensified distress. Recovery requires restoring choice, flexibility, autonomy, and rebuilding trust with the body through adaptable options.
Read at Tiny Buddha
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