Rise like a Phoenix - what does it mean?

Why did I call my book Rise like a Phoenix?

From the ashes we rise. All of us, in many ways, and many times throughout a lifetime.

Life on earth, until now, has been hard.

It has offered challenges that, for many, have seemed insurmountable.

Yet we continue to surmount.

For those with what we have termed psychological or emotional problems, even the smallest obstacle can seem impossible to overcome.

A big reason that is so is because when we deem ourselves to be ill, we act so. We believe ourselves to be so. It's a vicious circle.

When I had an eating disorder, I needed to believe in it, as it justified why life was so hard for me. If someone had told me there was nothing wrong, I would have felt unbalanced.

The need was, however, to feel 'okay.' 'Normal.'

When my psychologist told me that there was far less wrong with me than I thought, he meant that the root of the problem was my belief that there was something wrong with me.

That was the root of the problem.

An eating disorder arises from the belief that there is something wrong.

I felt like a misfit.

I had lost, or had never found, my centre.

In rising like a phoenix, I rose from the ashes of the past beliefs, and allowed my soul to guide me into the next stage of my life.

Because that's who I am. A soul. Living in this house I call my body. For now.