An eating disorder ruined my initial college experience, and it is finally time for me to reclaim my education. Receiving an education is always something I have valued and in 2019 I was pursuing a degree. I was attending the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater studying to go into healthcare, I was a member of the cheerleading squad, and loved my job at a local coffee shop. To an outsider, it seemed like I was thriving. However, behind the scenes, my eating disorder was controlling my life. I was doing poorly in school, which was very out of character for me, and decided it was time to receive help. Unfortunately, there were no treatment centers in my area for the level of care I needed. I made the very hard decision to leave school and move to Texas to receive my treatment through Center of Discovery in Dallas. Fast forward to now, I am 2 years in recovery. I have gained control of my life again. As I look back and reflect on the past few years, I recognize school was not my priority, and my sole focus was my eating disorder. I am so happy that I made the decision to postpone school and get help I so desperately needed. I have now gained a new appreciation for furthering my education and I can't wait to give it 100% of my effort for the first time in my life. With the knowledge I have learned through experiencing an eating disorder firsthand, I plan on also helping people who are struggling with eating disorders. On a personal level, I am now more aware of the signs of eating disorders and hope to encourage the people around me to get help if I think they are struggling. As a college student, especially with my involvement in cheerleading and gymnastics, I will almost certainly come into contact with people that are struggling silently. Currently, I work with a lot of children, and I strive to help them build a healthy relationship with food and exercise. On a more public level, I have been very open about sharing my story to people and on social media to help reduce the stigma of eating disorders and bring awareness to the fact you may not know what is really going on in someone's life. Between finishing treatment and now, I have participated in multiple events hosted by The National Eating Disorder Association and have raised hundreds of dollars for the cause. I often try to bring family and friends to these events to help educate them more as well. I plan on helping people with eating disorders for the rest of my life. My goal is to finish my degree in healthcare so I can open my own eating disorder recovery center. I want treatment to be accessible to people no matter where they live, so no one has to travel long distances like I had to. So far, eating disorders have had a very negative impact on my life. However, for the rest of my life, I will be working to take the power back from eating disorders. Now is my time to reverse the narrative and turn my eating disorder into a positive learning experience by staying in recovery and helping other people regain control of their life.