At EDNE, we know that summer can be a challenge when you’re struggling with eating distress and/or body image. There can feel pressure to socialise more and be involved in anxiety provoking activities; you may be going on holiday, along with the warmer weather and summer clothing trends.

If you are feeling too anxious to try different things, it is ok to stick with things you find safe for a while. Keep reviewing this and ask a trusted person to help you see if you become stuck as to move forward with recovery, we do need to face the things that make us feel uncomfortable.

If you’re feeling up to challenging yourself this summer, you could use the space to take small steps forward in recovery.

There is no right or wrong as everyone’s experience of recovery is different.

Suggestions to help

Below are some suggestions to help manage summer holidays and warmer weather:

• You might like to wear something comfy or something you feel positive in.
• You could explore different types of summer outfits and cover-ups for the beach.
• If summer body comparison means you’re finding it difficult to feel positive about how your body looks, you could try listing 3 positive things that your body does for you i.e. takes you places, allows you to listen to music or read a book, or allows you to smell nice things.
• You could try going to an event for 5 minutes and see how you feel. If you’re feeling ok, stay for longer.
• Some people find doing more of the activities they enjoy in the summer months helpful, whether that’s inside or outside activities.
• You could try participating in what feels comfortable without completely missing out i.e. spend time at the beach with family/friends; you don’t have to go in the sea if you don’t want to.
• Some people find focusing on the activity and/or making memories rather than the food aspect is useful.
• If on holiday, you might find it easier to experiment with mini goals for recovery as you’re somewhere different and you do not know many people. If that’s not where you’re at yet, that is okay. Instead, you might like to go somewhere you can bring your own food.
• You might like to plan ahead if that is helpful, i.e. decide what food you will take to eat at a picnic; take safe food with you to a BBQ, and read menus beforehand (even abroad most restaurants have their menus outside for you to view the day/morning before you go).
• If ice cream is a fear food, you could try making your own ice lollies at home as a first step.

The recovery process can be long and at challenging times, it can feel like you’re stuck in the same place. Some people find it useful to reflect back on the last year – if you’re in recovery, you could think about what is different this year to last year. This is a way to see small positive changes; if you didn’t struggle with eating distress or body image last year, perhaps think about how summer was then and identify incentives and motivators to move forward in recovery.