He isn’t as fragile as twigs and leaves…

When Farid was seven he was a curious, happy and shy little boy. He remembers how much he loved being outside. “I used to make little trenches in the garden and build cities out of twigs and leaves”, Farid said with a nostalgic smile (almost as nostalgic as the Barney stuffed animal in the photograph). But somewhere along the way that seven year old boy changed…

It could have been that he didn’t feel comfortable in his own body, the difficulty he faced fitting in at school, or the pressure of coming to grips with his own sexuality. Regardless of the cause, Farid was deeply depressed and wanted to take control of his life.

“For me, It was all about control. I was angry and sad all the time”.

Sometimes in life we look for simple answers when our pain is complex. Sometimes those answers can hurt us. For seven years Farid battled with Bulimia. Bulimia is defined as an emotional disorder involving distortion of body image and an obsessive desire to lose weight, in which bouts of extreme overeating are followed by depression and self-induced vomiting, purging, or fasting.

After years of struggle, Farid wanted so badly to be a stable and healthy person again. He decided to see a therapist and tried to envision a time where he felt like his true self. Maybe the memory of that little seven year old boy playing in the garden is what gave Farid the strength to make a commitment that has resulted in recovery for the last two years.

“I promise not to binge and purge”.