There are many things you can do to help a food addict. Here are are my top five favorites.
1. Look them in the eye. Food addicts are invisible to those around them. Even if they have grown larger in size and take up more space, to most of society, they are invisible.Being acknowledged is important to everyone.
2. Listen when they speak. When a person speaks to you, don’t mentally plan your monologue so you’ll be ready when it’s your turn to talk. Active listening is a form of respect, and we all want that, don’t we?
3. Be courteous. Hold the door, offer to carry something when the person’s arms are full. Demonstrate kindness. Your actions tell people who you are.
4. Ask questions if you have them. Be honest. Listen to the answers without passing judgment.
5. Send a card or a flower on a special occasion like a birthday or at a sad time. There are cards for everything, physical cards, not e-cards. Physical cards which can be purchased for as little as 99 cents say you care without overstating your intentions and embarrassing you both.
You might think, “Well, how the heck does that help?”. It’s an easy question to answer.
Self-worth, self-esteem–however you want to label it–is so important. No matter how high an opinion we have of ourselves, or how many times we find the hero in ourselves, it is vital to be acknowledged by others.
Not for fame or acceptance, but for validation that we matter, that someone cared enough to be kind, that we are valued. Acts of kindness have become acts of convenience.
Sending a card through snail mail is expensive and a waste of time, right? Wrong, In fact, it is quite the opposite. Those few moments, collected and pieced together in an effort to tell someone they are not alone are precious.
I cannot count the many times I have revisited cards I received decades ago. I remember the time and place and all the wonderful feelings those words ignited in my heart.
Help need not be delivered in the form of advice. Food addicts get plenty of that.
The inspiration that comes from being acknowledged fills your heart so completely that, even if only for a brief time, you don’t feel like you’re starving anymore.