Who Am I Without My Sport? Navigating Identity Loss in Eating Disorder Therapy for Athletes in New Jersey
Do you identify as the friend who is always running or “the soccer player”? Your friends compliment you as the one that is the athlete. The one that is always at the gym or on the field. It feels really good to have an identity that others see as disciplined. Sports can provide structure, purpose and pride. It can also create confusion around who you are outside of yur sport.
Eating disorder therapy for athletes challenges the athlete's identity. Recovery may mean adjusting how you train, compete or even stepping back from your sport temporarily. When sport is tied too closely to identity, it becomes a slippery slope. So let’s dive together into how athletes can rediscover who they are beyond performance.
Why Athletes Struggle With Identity Loss During Eating Disorder Recovery
The athlete identity often comes with value around success and discipline. The pressure for athletes to measure their success through stats becomes high. This creates an unhealthy dynamic of worth being measured solely by their sport. Coaches, parents, teammates and even social media emphasize athletic achievement above all else.
Not only can this take the enjoyment out of the sport, it also puts pressure to compete at a certain level. Without their sport, athletes may feel lost and confused. Restriction, overtraining and compulsive behaviors can feel like a way to maintain control in preserving identity.
Common Signs of Identity Loss in Athletes
When an athlete is going through eating disorder recovery, identity is an important thing to explore. You may notice feelings of purposelessness or a loss of direction when unable to train. Loneliness may stem from struggling to engage in social activities outside of sport. Anxiety tends to creep in around missed practices or workouts. When the belief that your value is tied only to performance, body composition or external recognition, recovery can feel like a threat.
How Eating Disorder Therapy for Athletes Rebuild Identity Beyond Sport
Learning that rest and recovery are not a weakness is a key part of eating disorder recovery. It leads to longevity in sport and a sustainable life. Values for an athlete are about what they want for themself in and outside of sport. For example, success is a value, it is important to examine how that plays a role as a value on and off the field. Here are a few ways to explore identity:
Explore values in and outside of sport:
Identifying personal strengths like leadership, creativity or resilience helps to see the positive aspects of their personality. Looking at values they look up to in others can help see what you would like to strive towards.
Reframing setbacks:
Working to reframe injury or recovery time not as a loss, but as a time to prioritize other values, can help shift the perspective and promote growth.
Redefining success:
Moving away from language that is centered around winning. Focus on values and qualities like courage, balance and persistence.
Develop a balanced self-concept:
Integrating sport as one part of identity, not the whole story. This can be done by exploring how your values in sport also take place outside of sport.
Skills Athletes Learn in Eating Disorder Recovery
Different skills work for everyone. This is why it is extra important to have multiple tools in your toolbelt. So let’s break a few down!
Mindfulness practices:
Learning to sit with the discomfort and uncomfortable emotions is an important skill for all. Being able to have uncertainty without turning towards disordered behaviors will make you a stronger athlete. These skills may look like anything from deep breathing to guided meditation.
Cognitive restructuring:
Challenging the belief that worth does not equal performance is where this skill comes in. Having an affirmation to say when negative thoughts come in or reframing your thoughts in the moment are part of cognitive restructuring.
Identity mapping exercises:
Exploring who you are in and outside of your sport such as, a friend, student, sibling, leader, or artist. You are more than your sport and more than an athlete.
Self-compassion training.
This is one of the hardest ones! Working on replacing harsh dialogue with affirming talk is so much easier to do for others. Learning how to do it for yourself and practicing is key to having self compassion.
Transition planning:
Once you get to a steady place in eating disorder recovery, you can create strategies for navigating life changes. This can include anything from injury, graduation, retirement from sport or relapse.
Reclaiming Identity Beyond the Finish Line
Redefining your identity does not take you away from your identity as an athlete. It rather adds to the bucket of who you are. So much freedom and resilience comes from building on an identity that is rooted in more than performance. If you or a family member is struggling with navigating recovery and a loss of identity, reach out for an eating disorder therapist in New Jersey to begin navigating the recovery process of rediscovering yourself beyond sport.
Support For Eating Disorder Therapy for Athletes in New Jersey
Working through eating disorder recovery does not mean giving up sport, rather rediscovering balance. Eating disorder therapy for athletes provides a safe, supportive place to process the loss of identity. It is about working together to find strategies for sustainable joy in sport while reaching your goals in and off the field.
Getting Starting with Eating Disorder Support
To start your recovery journey, these are the steps you will want to do!
Learn more about Serendipity and eating disorder support.
Book a free consultation call to see if we are a good fit.
Start your process towards finding your identity!
At Serendipity Counseling, we offer services beyond individual therapy to help support athletes through eating disorder recovery. These include our “Retired” athletes support group and featured podcasts on eating disorder recovery.
About the Author: An Eating Disorder Therapist in New Jersey
Kate Ringwood specializes in eating disorder therapy for athletes and focuses on balancing sport and recovery. Her background as a collegiate runner offers a unique perspective into the mind of an athlete. Kate works to meet clients where they are in their recovery process, while guiding them towards finding the joy in their sport again.
