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The Practical Progressive@SoArchaic · Sep 11, 2026

9/11 saved my life. I’d been battling anorexia for a year. Was a skeleton, hair falling out, & slowly killing…

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Summary

A person battling severe anorexia was in New York City during 9/11 with their family, and the traumatic experience witnessing the attacks and uncertainty about safety shocked them into recovery. The terror and proximity to tragedy gave them perspective that ended their year-long struggle with the eating disorder, leading them to embrace living and nourishing themselves.

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  1. #1

    9/11 saved my life. I’d been battling anorexia for a year. Was a skeleton, hair falling out, & slowly killing myself (unintentionally). The morning of 9/11, I was in a hotel room in NYC with my parents getting ready to fly home to LA, post vacation. School was about to start. 🧵

  2. #2

    9/11 was my mom’s bday, so we had decided to take an afternoon flight so we could go to brunch and celebrate. The planes hit as we were packing and my mom was doing her hair while watching the morning news. It all unfolded on that hotel TV. Then on the streets of the city.

  3. #3

    People crying on the sidewalk. Soon, the city covered in that awful smelling smoke. People lining up to give blood. We got stuck there the whole week. My dad, a lawyer, knew people in the law firms at the WTC. He never drank hard alcohol but did every night that week.

  4. #4

    There were bomb threats every few hours. I was terrified a plane would fly into our hotel. I never wanted to be back in CA so badly. Eventually we were able to rent a car and drive to Pittsburgh and get a flight home from there. I shook the whole plane ride for fear of hijacking.

  5. #5

    I promised myself if we made it home alive I would try to get better. The entire experience snapped me out of it almost immediately. Feeling so out of control made me see how futile trying to control everything was. How selfish I’d been. Superficial. How lucky I was to be alive.

  6. #6

    But I hadn’t been living. My older sister, worried sick, picked us up and we went straight to dinner. I ate an entire meal. And ordered cheesecake for dessert. Something that seemed impossible for an entire year prior. It was a first step.

  7. #7

    I’m not claiming we were in danger (we weren’t, we were in midtown and safe). But we didn’t know we would be safe. And all those images and the fear were palpable enough to sear themselves into my brain forever and snap me back to life.

  8. #8

    9/11 will forever be a complicated day. My mom’s birthday still. A day of the most immense tragedy & heartache. A day of remembering the victims. And a day that changed my own personal trajectory. I’ve never deprived myself of food since. Life is to be lived.

  9. #9

    If you struggle: anad.org