I love quotes. Sometimes they are really simple but make you think. Sometimes they give you a sense of hope, that things can get better and your dreams maybe, possibly, actually might come true.
I often wonder how true this quote (saying?) is. Is our life preplanned? And, if so, does that mean that every single thing is pre-planned, or just the major events? Or, are certain things meant to happen (career path, marriage, children, etc), but when they happen is determined by us and our choices? I truly believe that every negative experience/event we have been through is meant to teach us something, that we can take away things from negative things that happen to us and make our lives better, make us a better person, make us appreciate what we have.
I was watching an episode of Oprah several years ago, and she said something that really stuck with me. Here is some background: the episode featured Tracey Gold - but instead of talking about her battle with anorexia, they were talking about a drunk driving accident that Tracey had recently gotten in (she was the drunk driver). Tracey was talking about how she occasionally would drive after a few drinks, and she would feel like she was fine to drive, but that apparently she didn't realize how much alcohol was in her system and that, looking back, she probably shouldn't have been driving on those occasions. On this particular day, she was in an accident, and her young sons and husband were in the car. The accident thankfully wasn't extremely serious - I believe their car had some damage. However, her family (including her young sons) luckily was able to walk away.
Oprah was talking to her about God and how he teaches us that things that we are doing are wrong. She said that first, God throws a pebble at us to warn us that what we are doing is wrong/bad. Then, he throws a larger stone. If we still don't listen, a rock follows, as well as a brick. Then, finally, he drops an anvil on our heads to really wake us up. (I can't remember if she used the exact word "anvil", but it was something really big.) Tracey agreed that God had given her several warnings that she shouldn't be driving after drinking, and she didn't listen. Then she got into the accident, and, thankfully, she was able to realize how serious it was to drink and drive. God forbid, if she had continued to drive drunk, she could have hurt one of her family members, or even someone else.
Perhaps, things happen in our life to teach us lessons. If we listen and make changes, we move on from them. If we don't, God continues to send us other situations to hopefully teach us the lesson, and it is up to us if we listen or if we continue to go down the wrong path even though we know it is wrong (or choose to ignore the lesson).
This is very applicable to eating disorders. First, we begin to lose energy and have a hard time completing the simplest daily task, then, we can't stand up without feeling dizzy and potentially pass out. We begin to push away family and friends, and we can begin to experience organ damage, bone loss, and other signs that our body just can't take it anymore.
However, as bad as things get, if we are still alive then we have the ability to make things better. Yes, we may never be as healthy as we would have been had we not gone down that path, but we can learn from our experiences - learn to appreciate walking up a flight of stairs without getting winded, learn to be able to go out to dinner and enjoy company and perhaps even the meal. We can learn that there are things we can't control in life, but we can't take that out on our bodies. We can learn to listen to our emotions and cope with the uncomfortable ones in a healthy, productive way.
Maybe things happen to us to help us learn to appreciate the good things, learn from the bad, and make us into the person we are supposed to be.
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