Eating Disorders Day

Today is the National Day of the Mental Health Care. It's a yearly thing with a theme. This year the theme is "Gevangen In Gewicht" (Caught In Weight): eating disorders. There are all kinds of events, meetings, lectures etc. throughout the country. I have been asked to tell my personal story in 3 information meetings in October in Hoofddorp (today), Haarlem (Oct. 17) and Amstelveen (Oct. 23).

So today was the first meeting in Hoofddorp. The target group was people with binge eating disorder, but of course they could bring someone else with them. Unfortunately a lot of people who had said they would come had to cancel because they fell ill. All around me I hear about people with the flu or something like that. Maybe they were all ill, but it could well be some of them got cold feet. I can certainly understand that from my own experience. The meetings are easily accessible, but a person can put up his or her own barriers...

Anyhow, the attendance wasn't very large, but it was a good meeting nevertheless. I did my story and it went well. I had made a rough outline of what I wanted to tell, just some words to guide me. That works best for me. The questions came naturally during and after my story, the interaction felt good. The time went by very quickly. It was good to do, for the "public", but also for me!