”You made me feel comfortable enough to expose my deepest wounds”
IT ALL BEGAN WITH A SIMPLE GESTURE – you woke me with a kiss and a bowlful of berries after one of our first nights together. Your innate kindness was impossible to ignore and I knew I was falling in love with you. But, as I continued to fall, worry grew – what will he think when he finds out about me? How far will he run when I recount my years-long struggle with mental health? After just a few months together, you made me feel comfortable enough to expose my deepest wounds and broach the subject. By that stage, I knew you loved me, but the thought of showing you my whole self still made me uneasy.
You were born and raised on a dairy farm in a remote Scottish village; your education didn’t skim the subject of mental illness and you hadn’t – to your knowledge – met anyone else with an eating disorder. Others might assume you’d be the last person to understand my struggle – yet, as you wiped away my tears and listened, I had never felt so understood.