Practice in Self-Acceptance

Nina V. from helpforeatingdisorders.com posted this exercise for self-acceptance. She and many others say it's critical that we accept ourselves for who we are and accept that we must fail and succeed to grow as human beings. I think that's especially true for people who have disordered eating, because we usually have a hard time accepting and expressing our feelings, which leads to disordered habits in the first place. We all deserve love, and we get that love first from ourselves. Here's the practice:

1. If I give myself permission to feel my emotions, then I will probably be surprised by what I find. I'll struggle to feel them and express them, but eventually I'll learn how to feel them as they are and release them. 
2. When I reject my emotions, I reinforce the idea that I'm unworthy which is not true. When I reject my emotions I reject myself, and I deserve acceptance and love.
3. If I was 5% more realistic about my compulsive eating recovery, then I would be more patient with myself because I'd understand how powerful those compulsions are, and how easily I can be influenced by them.
4. If I was 5% more optimistic about my compulsive eating disorder recovery, then I would see and really believe how much power and strength I have within me
5. If I appreciate my wins with compulsive eating recovery 5% more, then I would see how strong I actually am and I would begin to love and accept myself more
6. If I accept failure, ...this one is hard for me. If I accept failure, then I wouldn't relapse with my recovery. I would feel free in my life to make mistakes and grow stronger from them, rather then weaker
7. My biggest fear is that I won't be able to be intimate with someone and develop a healthy lifelong relationship
8. Is that fear real? Based on life experiences, it feels real. But I know it's possible, that my life experiences occurred because of traumatic childhood experiences that I can overcome
9. I hope that I can truly and permanently recover and help others do the same, as well as help children who are growing up in the kind of household I grew up in. I hope that I can trust myself fully one day
10. I can see myself living a full life, trusting myself completely to navigate life's twists and turns. I can see myself loving myself and truly caring about others, and not being afraid of relapse or other issues, moving forward with my life.