Journal December 2025 Release - Flipbook - Page 28
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Jo:
Joanna, I am delighted to see how you are exercising not only your voice
but your choices against SS and making decisions for the good of your life,
not the death of your life.
In this document, it is possible to see her resolve to take back her life, her voice,
and her agency. Joanna wants to live a life of her own choosing, without being
trapped in the clutches of self-hatred and self-harm.
I learnt that SS even infiltrates her attempts at choosing for life, by insinuating
itself into the minutiae of her plans, making the execution of her plans perfectly
impossible. Her solution is to not strive for perfection but rather to embrace
IMPURFECTION, which was a million times more fun, enlightening, and
achievable.
Joanna: Jo, the magic is happening slowly. I’ve stopped taking sleeping tablets and
turned to aromatherapy oils with great effect. I entertain no heavy topics or
issues before bedtime, and being less perfectionistic about getting 8 hours
of sleep.
Jo:
A wise man once told me the creatives of this world don’t need to have
exactly 8 hours of sleep per night… Just saying.
Joanna: Pieter has agreed that we lock the security gate of the bedroom area,
and he will keep the key, thereby barring SS from the kitchen binges.
Speaking, not starving
We continued with weekly sessions and, as you well know, this is a crooked path
with its own set of challenges. I want to include a last example here to illustrate
how Joanna and I both became clued up at anti-anorexia.
An email from Joanna in May 2000:
An Apprenticeship in Extremis
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, December 2025 Release, p. 5-44.
www.journalnft.com
