Facebook LIKES are important because they give me credibility. Would you be more likely to buy a book from an author who has 10 LIKES or 5,000? Furthermore, the more people who LIKE my pages on Facebook, the more visibility I have as a young, independent author on an important social media outlet.
If there is anything specific you want me to post on Facebook that would be of benefit to you, please let me know. Right now, I regularly post pictures that help to tell the written story of my book in images. I also share links from my website and blog relating to my approach of “interpreting eating disorders from the inside out.” Finally, if want me to LIKE your page in return for liking mine, let me know, and I will do so under my account “SoraLeah Ezekiel.”
Saturday, June 15 @ 3 pm / Energy medicine with Lizette Ayala and book talk + signing w/ Laura Yochelson @ George Mason Freedom Center
Sunday, June 23 beginning at 9 am / Yoga class and book talk + signing @ Athleta Georgetown
Keep updated about my happenings by liking my page on Facebook. Also, check my events page regularly as I have additional book talks, movement workshops, and media ”in the works.” Lastly, if you are interested in featuring an interview of me or a review of my book on your blog, please fill out a contact form.
The book, Sick, is on my experiences with OCD, anxiety, depression, and anorexia nervosa and takes a holistic approach to eating disorders. Here is a breakdown:
260 pages
six parts: five parts personal story, one part handbook including input from holistic practitioners and creative exercises, journal prompts, meditations
88 chapters of one to five pages each
resources section
The write-up can be approached as a review, but be sure to do it in your own style and include personal reactions! For ideas, check out the media page.
Since becoming a writer, I have become more aware of my dreams. I use dreams as tools to help guide the direction of my work.
This past weekend, I experienced several vivid dreams. Mostly, these dreams consisted of people I already know coming to me in “better” forms. In one dream, a person I have been unable connect with in this life came to me at his purest and with a light all around him. He was literally glowing in front of my eyes! I did not see myself in the dream, but he expressed interest in something that is important to me. Last night, I had a different dream that awoke me in the morning. In the second part of this dream, I walked by my dad and gave him a note. The dream took place about twenty years from now and Dad was sitting in a wheelchair. I woke up crying because I realized he was dying, but I also felt proud. The dream made me realize how far I have come in my relationship with Dad. I was able to honor my dad’s spirit and completely forgive him for being unable to “get me,” especially in adolescence.
Before visiting San Diego last month, I had a reoccurring dream, again with my dad. He was driving, but I was in the car and maybe with a friend. We were driving up a hill and the weather was bad. The ride was rocky and I was scared. In a later episode of this dream, the weather cleared. Still yet, in one dream, I am in the backyard of a complex of garden apartments. I remember tossing a ball and playing catch. There may have been a clown or monster. Last week I had a dream I was by a big body of water. The waves were gigantic and I just stood there watching and anxious, waiting for them to take over me.
In my second book, I have an entire part dedicated to the main character’s dreams. Many of these dreams take place over food. I love dreams, and recommend paying attention to the powerful messages they share.
what does “being well” mean to you? for each one of us, the path to wellness is unique. my own journey has included neurologists, physical therapists, massage therapists, and yoga, while yours may be less crowded but equally enlightening. one thing all of our paths have in common is the notion that true healing starts with the belief that you can heal.
Today, I believe plus-sized models have gained acceptance because they are more sexual than “regular” models, not because they are plus-sized. When you’re anorexic you cannot be sexual. (Though I do believe some people are better at pretending than I was.) The truth is, the hormones are not ALIVE. They are also out of balance. I know from personal experience.
The ability to be sexual is more powerful and stimulating than the ability to weigh less and, ultimately, construct one’s self into statue of a pain. Being sexual takes vulnerability and letting go of control, being anorexic takes total control. Fake sex and the idea that capitalism and products can make you sexual no matter what you weigh or how insecure you are: that’s what’s in.
In a country like America where the standards for models are so high (to be a ghastly low weight), the normal weight in the country is “overweight” because of the obesity epidemic, and eating disorders are a serious problem, plus-sized modeling is a cool idea but not a solution. In my opinion, plus-sized models are not ideal role models. They are vulnerable models.
Imagine this scenario: A plus-sized models ends up trying to set a new beauty standard by being bigger (after having been an anorexic model), then ends up losing a good amount of the weight she gained because she put herself in the spotlight too soon in the recovery process. All of a sudden, the former plus-sized model’s weight loss story is glamorized. Eventually, maybe we learn the girl is returning to rehab for an eating disorder.
The point of this post is not to bash the plus-sized models. I believe plus-sized models have good intentions. I would; however, rather model for a modern, active lifestyle with shoots in nature. Whether plus-sized or not, the nature of traditional modeling gives outsides far more power than insides and promotes an obsession with beauty that is artificial, superficial, and disconnected from Mother Earth.
In conclusion, plus-sized models are not “fit” to be role models. As a teenager, I could never see myself walking around talking about “my latest role model, the plus-sized model so-and-so.” I’d still say Mia Hamm, or better yet Mandy Moore in Candy. She’s a hot California girl and so is her dude. Of course, I did get as thin as Mandy, but I could never, ever be sexual like she is in the music video at that weight.
Today, I more am aware of the patterns in my brain. How the pattern begins and ends, and how to make subtle shifts in my inner workings. One pattern that I have become more aware of, which started occurring when I was twelve, begins with me building up a fantasy about “love.” I invest energy in a fantasy with a man, until I become aware of what I am doing and realize I am not even certain I “like”* the man or want a relationship to happen. Regardless of my realization that I might not “like” him or want something to happen, I still end up experiencing an extreme emotional low when the fantasy does not turn out compared to the “hi” I experienced in dreamland. Though eventually I find relief and rejuvenation once I tune into myself and my purpose, the cycle begins anew before I reach a total sense of freedom.
I haven’t weighed myself since then, though I know I have not gained weight.
137 point something is about twenty pounds less than what I weighed the last time I weighed myself (December 2010 or January 2011), and twelve pounds less than what I weighed at the OB-GYN’s office in (I think) October 2011.
I haven’t been on a “diet” or struggling to lose weight. I was never a binge eater either. I was just in transition after anorexia.
For a couple hours after I said “under 140″ I couldn’t stop torturing myself about not saying around 135 instead.
