Higher Power Tools & Concepts All of This Is Okay I’m afraid I’ll do it wrong. I’m afraid my sponsees will find out I’m a fraud. What if they don’t like me, won’t do what I t…
Fellowship Tools & Concepts Sponsorship I reach out my palm and you touch my heart. Together we make a valiant start. We guard against any halfway measure As we emb…
Working the Program Adjusting Focus I was a great believer in whatever the next diet, philosophy, or trick was. You see, I knew there was a solution. Desperate,…
Fellowship Tools & Concepts All Human I was enjoying a new relationship with a sponsor, and everything seemed to be going very well. I was preparing to do Step Fi…
Fellowship Tools & Concepts Prayers Answered I always start the story of my first sponsor by saying it was totally a “God thing.” I was living in Heidelberg, the only Ge…
Service Tools & Concepts The Blessing of Technology I first came to OA almost seventeen years ago. At that time, I lived in a large city where many OA meetings were available. …
Recovery Working the Program Bitter is Better I am a 62-year-old male, and since I came into program at the end of March 2015, my marriage has been restored and my family…
Newcomers Tools & Concepts Nurturing is Our Nature One of my self-care activities is to spend time with the beautiful wildflowers that we are blessed to have in Tennessee. One…
Relapse Telephone Connection Questions I’m blessed with over twelve years of abstinence after a horrific fourteen-year relapse. What did I do differently? I became…
Diversity Breakup Note Overeating, you were in control of my life for a while. You ruined my life, took away my friends, isolated me, made me sick,…
How OA Changed My Life The Antidote “Well?! Are you?” asked a raspy, aggressive voice. Even though the woman stood about two feet shorter than me, I took a step back. I’d been walking the aisles of the grocery store and it took a few se… Read More
Higher Power Tools & Concepts All of This Is Okay I’m afraid I’ll do it wrong. I’m afraid my sponsees will find out I’m a fraud. What if they don’t like me, won’t do what I tell them, or don’t become abstinent? What if I have to dedicate all my free … Read More
Giving Away a Secret I have always been so guarded with every aspect of myself. Just the prospect of being exposed and having someone see the rawest, most honest version of me has been painful and terrifying to think about. My earliest memories are associated with the desperate need to be accepted by everyone at any cost, by any means necessary. I worried that … Read More
Facing It, Feeling It There it was. I had done the first three Steps with my sponsor and we both knew what was coming next. He knew it was going to be a big step in my recovery, but to me it looked more like a pending emotional breakdown. Turns out he was right. I had built a pretty good system of denial and … Read More
Recovery Beyond Measure In a few days, I will celebrate thirty-eight years of recovery in OA. Today my goal is health, sanity, and wellness, not a size 8. Physically, my body has been a normal size for many years. G-d has removed the compulsion for what I call “the hard stuff”—the stuff you see at the grocery checkout counter. I have reached a … Read More
