Awake my soul: Mothering myself toward recovery

Abstract

In this chapter, I narrate my experience of struggling with and then seeking treatment for an eating disorder, which was exacerbated by the stressors of stay-at-home parenting and my life in academics. I explain how taking both psychological and spiritual perspectives on my eating disorder enabled me to recognize its paradoxical nature as the thing that simultaneously barred me from being my fullest self and signaled the small voice of my soul longing to awake. In conclusion, I name how practices of parenting-attention to breathing and physical and emotional cradling-along with greater participation in the sacramental life of the Catholic church have contributed to my recovery and growing ability to see myself as beloved by God.