Franz Kafka once wrote:

I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for? We need books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply…like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.

Why am I sharing this? Because I think we all know that most eating disorder recovery books are written to make you feel better, to give you hope, to reassure you that “everything will be okay if you just follow these steps.”

But real transformation doesn’t come from comfort – it comes from books that disturb your comfortable illusions.

The truth is, I didn’t write How to Get Out of Quasi Recovery to make you feel better. I wrote it to be the axe for the frozen sea of fear within you.

That frozen sea is the illusory safety of hiding behind the recovery identity. It’s the comfort of endlessly watching other people’s “What I Eat in a Day” videos, looking for permission to do the hard work instead of actually doing it.

Fear makes you believe that if you just find the right map, the right approach, the right influencer to follow, you won’t have to face the terrifying truth: that your path to freedom can only be discovered by you.

Craig Lee, an eating disorder therapist who was one of my beta readers, describes my quasi recovery book this way:

“A rare gem of a book that fills a large gap in the underexplored topic of quasi recovery. Packed with insight and wisdom, the pages within gently challenge, empower, and guide the reader on a journey of discovery that goes far beyond limited narratives around recovery. Careful readers will see that what is being offered here is more than just a way for getting out of quasi recovery – it’s a way of being in the world and navigating its complexities to live a meaningful, fulfilling life. This is a valuable asset for anyone navigating their own eating disorder recovery as well as professionals in the field. I recommend anyone struggling with an eating disorder to read (and re-read) this wonderful book.”

Similar to myself, Craig takes an existential approach to ED recovery (or rather, discovery), which is why I asked him to be a beta reader. His words about how my book “gently challenges” are spot on – because gentle challenge is exactly what breaks through years of comfortable stagnation.

How to Get Out of Quasi Recovery is designed to wake you up with that “blow to the head” Kafka wrote about…but in service of your freedom.

Let me be clear here: this isn’t about destroying you. It’s about destroying the illusions that have kept you small.

And the Discovery Workbook? That’s your own axe. It helps you take these uncomfortable truths and use them to chip away at the stories that are no longer serving you.

Because here’s the thing: tips and tricks are useless if you don’t commit to the trust fall. If they actually made a difference, you wouldn’t still be stuck in recovery, right? So the only question left is, how much longer do you want to stay frozen?

You can get both How to Get Out of Quasi Recovery and the Discovery Workbook in your preferred format on my online bookstore livlabelfreebooks.com, where you can bundle all my books for a discount!