Emotional Anorexia: When Numb Feels Safer Than Need

When enough pain happens, you learn to live on crumbs. You tell yourself you do not need much. You do not need closeness. You do not need to be understood. You eat ice chips of connection and then call it a feast when someone texts you back. It is not that you do not want love. You are terrified of hunger.

Emotional anorexia is not dramatic. It looks functional. You are busy. You are fine. You become expert at being the listener. You disappear behind questions and jokes. Your body pays for it. Sleep turns shallow. Food becomes a chore. Joy gets rare. You start to distrust anything that feels good because you cannot control when it arrives or leaves.

Thawing requires gentleness. Flooding yourself with intimacy will only send you back into the cave. Start by feeding on safe moments. Eye contact that lasts two seconds longer. A text that says I miss you, not just how are you. Sit with a friend and share one specific thing about your day that made you feel something. Then let yourself feel the afterglow without guilt.

You will want to sprint. Do not. Keep the portions small and steady. Build a practice of noticing satisfaction. After a warm exchange, say to yourself I am full for a minute. The minute matters. It teaches your body that nourishment is possible and survivable.

Hunger is not a flaw. It means you are alive. You do not need to stay on the ration plan. Let more in.