Sarah Pannell, LMFT

07/03/2024

Check out my new website.

Heal your relationship with yourself, your body and with others. Psychotherapy rooted in compassion, curiosity and courage. View Specialties Finding a Path to Greater Joy, Hope and Confidence in Yourself. MIND, BODY + SPIRIT Therapy is a place where you feel seen and heard, where all of you and all....

05/19/2021

Not everyone with an eating disorder loses weight & most are NOT in very thin bodies. Body size is not an indicator of how much someone is struggling or the severity of the ED!
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However, what I do see consistently is that EDs & disordered eating shrinks peoples’ lives. It consumes their mental space, it steals their energy, their passion. As has termed it- it’s a life-thief.
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And conversely, one of my greatest joys & why I LOVE doing this work is that when people begin to recovery- their lives grow. I literally watch people blossom into these incredible human beings- who they always were(!) yet it’s often hard to see all of it when an eating disorder is raging because it consumes so much of a persons life & energy.⠀
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I love hearing my clients describe things they love & enjoy- be it rediscovering a love of butter & baking cookies, or their desire to become a teacher, their passion for social justice. I love hearing about the life that is possible as the ED consumes less of them.
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Often this bigger life comes alongside a larger body, & in our fatphobic society this can be difficult. Letting go of a smaller body, or the hope of a smaller body, entails grief.
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I invite my clients, & invite all of you, to hold space for both. It’s okay to grieve the loss of what you hoped life would be if you’re body was smaller. AND I’d invite you to reflect on the larger life you’ve gained (or want to gain).
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You deserve a beautiful large life. Recovery is hard & you are absolutely worth the fight!
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05/04/2021

Your body is NOT the problem.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Your body is NOT the problem. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Your body is NOT the problem.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Negative body image does not indicate something is wrong with your body or that you need to fix your body.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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It’s painful to struggle with your body. The pain is real. If you’re struggling, I see you, I hear you. This is hard.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Take a breath. Can you press pause on critiquing your body for a moment (not forever), and can you invite yourself to get curious about WHY you think your body is a problem? When did you first learn your body was a problem? When did it start bothering you right now? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Body image isn’t static (unchanging)- it changes based on so many factors? Are there stressors or pain in your life that feel too hard to face? Do you notice when that stuff increases so does your body dissatisfaction and maybe your desire to change your body? Are you about to be around people who have a history of being critical of bodies (theirs, yours, others)? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Zoom out. What else may be impacting how you feel about your body? Your body is not the problem. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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04/26/2021

If you’re experiencing distress about your body, it’s real, it’s painful. I hear you and see you! Body image distress does NOT mean there is a problem with your body! Bodies are unique but they’re NOT problems to be fixed.

Focusing on changing your body may give you a false sense of control over your body and hence the feelings of distress may decrease. You may receive praise if you manage to temporarily lose weight or manipulate your body to closer to society’s view of a “good body.”

AND my experience has taught me that any relief experienced by weight loss or body changes are short-lived and often the distress returns. There is anxiety in trying to maintain the changes (which usually your biology is fighting to change back). There is anxiety and fear when you feel accepted because you question if it’s truly for you! And often the changes are “never enough.”

Healing comes in addressing the reasons WHY you believe your body isn’t good enough as it is- and this can be complicated. There are many reasons people often struggle to accept their body. Messages from family, peers, society at large about which bodies are “good” (often a young, thin, abled, heteronormative, light skinned body). Also experiences of trauma (individual & collective). Has your body been respected and trusted? There are many layers.

Healing takes time. And you & your body are worthy of healing.

*PS- Hi IG fam! It’s been a while! I’ll do another post and re-introduce myself and update on where I’ve been, but I’m tipping my toe into coming back on here!*

10/21/2020

Think we all need reminders to "keep going" in this unprecedented season in which we're living. And this is a beautiful reminder.

06/02/2020

If you have the means, donate the black organizations.

There's more than one way to get involved during these times! Please give if you can! 💚

03/25/2020

The coronavirus pandemic has led to a collective loss of normalcy.

03/16/2020

Hello IG Family

I’ve been MIA for the last few weeks and here is the reason why- I had a baby! For those who work with me or know me outside of social media, this isn’t a surprise to you as you likely saw my belly growing, but this may be news to those who only follow me here. Early on in my pregnancy, I made the decision not to share it on this platform until baby arrived. I love this platform & am so honored so many follow my work. I love sharing this space, my work and parts of my life & journey with you, AND it’s also important for me to keep parts of my life sacred for me first. And finding this balance in the world of social media is still something I’m learning but for now I did want to share this news with you and let you know I may continue to be absent her for a bit longer but I will be back! And there’s so much pregnancy and newborn life has taught me and I look forward to sharing some of this in my content in the future (not going to become a “mommy blogger” account but I think there’s a lot I’ve witness that relates directly to topics of body image, relationship to food & body and trauma).

AND I also wanted to hop on here to let you all know that I am thinking of all of you in these unprecedented and uncertain days we’re living in. It’s okay to feel all the feelings. It’s okay to grieve losses- the ability to live life in a way we can’t right now. I hope even as we’re required to keep our distance from others that we will still find ways to connect socially with others. Humans need other humans- that’s as true today as ever. Take care of yourselves, make decisions that protect you and others who are most vulnerable and check in on those who may be struggling, and if that’s you, and you can, reach out. It’s okay to ask for help, to need to talk to someone. If you’re high risk, ask others to go out on your behalf, if needed.

These are difficult days. If you’re scared or unsure- I see you. You are valuable and worth protecting. Our communities are worth protecting. Day by day we’ll go through this together.