The Secret Life of Kathy

Staying with the theme of my earlier post, I wanted to add a resource for people who believe they have problems with emotional eating. Shrink Yourself is a website that explains emotional eating and gives people some tools to deal with their addiction.

I know I'm an emotional eater. I've been exploring why I eat to fill the void. I have many memories of being this little carefree kid. I think it was after I started going to school that things really went to hell. Shy and backward, I had problems relating to the other kids. I grew up on a farm, and there weren't any other kids nearby. So my brother, my sisters, and I spent time with each other or living in some fantasy world--kind of the Secret Life of Walter Mitty living. Then when we had to interact with other people, we didn't know how. No social skills.

So I was living in a fantasy world--and I come from an alcoholic home. My mother was an emotional eater, too. She had her addiction, and my father had his. It was cake versus whiskey. Many days, months, and years went by where emotions were on edge and comforted with the addiction of choice. I'm really glad that I didn't become an alcoholic.

In my fantasy world, I often pretended that I was a member of the Mod Squad--the 1960s version not the later one. Anyway, I would've been too old for that one. Or maybe not. But I digress--I would take long walks through the woods that surrounded our farm and pretend I was on a secret mission. I was always part of the action.

I will continue this story soon.