04/08/2026
This is a client’s story, shared with her permission.
Nobody knew. That was the exhausting part.
She had a job. A husband who was starting to notice something was wrong, even if he couldn’t have named it. Two teenage daughters in the middle of exams who needed her steady and present. And underneath all of it, she was restricting, and almost nobody knew.
In front of her children, she managed it completely. Eating with them in the evenings, or letting the excuse of a busy family life explain why they weren’t always at the table together. Skipping meals, skipping whole food groups, doing it quietly enough that her daughters never had to know their mum was struggling.
But her close friends could see it. The socialising she’d started avoiding. Looking drawn, looking unwell. The energy that used to be there just wasn’t, to the point she was napping in the middle of the day to get through it.
She came to me because there was nobody she felt she could actually open up to. Not because she didn’t have people around her. Because she’d got so good at holding it together that nobody thought to ask.
If you’re the one everyone assumes is fine because you’re still showing up, still managing, still holding it all together, I want you to know that being able to do that isn’t the same as being okay.
DM me RECOVERY.