A few months back, my best friend of seven years told me she had barely been eating for about six motnhs. I was devastated, and horrified at myself for somehow not noticing something this big. There was so much to take in, so much to process. It was beyond difficult, and, seen as me and this friend had been drifting apart, I wasn't sure what to do.
She told me she didn't want anyone else to know. I respcted her wishes for a month or so before letting my other close friends know, and from there we told the school nurse.
To say we had no help at all in the mater would be an understatement. A month later, whilst passing the nurse in the corridor, she smiled at me and said 'It's your friend who's got the eating problem isn't it? What was her name ?..'
There's so much pressure on teenaged girls these days, and boys for that matter. What makes matters worse, is that there are next to no resources for people who are suffering from eating disorders. We desperately wanted to help this girl, but we had no way to.
It got me thinking about what really matters. And it made me care less about how much I weighed, because at the end of the day, obsessing over it isn't going to change it, and anorexia is just not worth any of it.
However many months later, I'm not in close contact with this friend anymore, and I can't see how to help her anymore.
In my opinion, not enough effort goes into helping people who need it, and need it now.