The Reclaim You Blog

You've had the bloodwork done twice. Maybe the ultrasound too. The doctor keeps saying everything looks normal, and you keep leaving the office feeling like you imagined the whole thing.

Except you didn't.

If you're here because something in you is worried, about yourself or about someone you love, trust that instinct. Bulimia survives and thrives on secrecy. The sooner it gets named, the more room there is to actually do something about it.

From the outside, your life probably looks pretty put-together. You handle your responsibilities. You're reliable. You might even be the person that other people hold up as an example of having it together.

And inside?

Inside, you're exhausted in a way that sleep doesn't fix.

If you spend any time in trauma spaces online, you would think a dysregulated nervous system is proof that something is wrong with you, a flaw to correct before you are allowed to call yourself healed.

I want to make the opposite argument.

You open Instagram for two minutes. Maybe you were just checking the weather or looking for a recipe.

And then somehow, ten minutes later, you're deep in someone's "what I eat in a day" content and you feel like garbage about yourself. Not a little bad. Like, legit worse than you did before you picked up your phone.

You ask five people what they think before making a decision.

You rewrite the text message three times. Then delete it. Then rewrite it again.

You Google something you already know, just to make sure.

The conversation around GLP-1 medications has become unsurprisingly quite black and white.

Depending on who you ask, these medications are either life-changing or dangerous. Revolutionary or irresponsible. The answer to everything or the beginning (or continuation) of a much larger problem.

You avoid work lunches because you're never sure there'll be anything you can eat. You've memorized restaurant menus before agreeing to plans with friends. Traveling feels like a logistical nightmare because food is unpredictable. You've spent years brushing it off, calling yourself picky, laughing it off before someone else does.

You know that feeling when someone texts back "ok" and your entire body responds before your brain has a chance to catch up?

Your stomach drops.

You reread the message.

Then you reread the whole conversation.

Childhood emotional neglect is often less about what happened to you and more about what did not happen. The comfort that never came. The curiosity about your inner world that was missing. The emotional attunement your developing nervous system needed and simply did not receive.

If you can't stop replaying your birth, even though everything is "technically fine," you might be experiencing unresolved birth trauma.

If you've ever zoned out in the middle of a conversation, forgotten what you were saying mid-sentence, or felt like you're watching your life instead of living it, that's dissociation.

And if you've ever judged yourself for it, like what is wrong with me or why can't I just stay present, this is for you.

The fawn response is one of the four trauma responses, and honestly, one of the hardest ones to recognize. Because unlike fight or flight, fawning doesn't look like a trauma response from the outside. It looks like being nice. Being helpful. Being easy to be around.

If you've been managing anxiety for a while, you've probably tried a few things.

Therapy. Medication. Breathing exercises. Maybe a meditation app you opened twice and then abandoned somewhere in your phone's graveyard.

You know the voice…

The one that shows up the second you try something new, speak up in a meeting, or just look in the mirror on a not so great day.

You're too much. Not enough. Who in the world do you think you are?

Shame is one of the most painful human experiences, and also one of the most misunderstood. It hides inside perfectionism, people-pleasing, explosive anger, and the relentless inner voice that tells you you're too much or not enough.

This post covers signs of childhood sexual abuse in adults. It is psychoeducational, not diagnostic. If anything here resonates, please work with a trauma-informed therapist who can help you explore it safely.