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Taking Inventory

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By my age, I’ve learned that setting down New Year’s resolutions is a hopeless and futile exercise. Last year, however, as a new calendar year began, I realized that I needed to take inventory of my life and my whole program, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. I needed to be honest and admit that something I had been rationalizing was a problem.

I picked up Abstinence, Second Edition and started reading. One story, “Perplexed About Abstinence?” (pp. 17–18), hit me dead center, particularly that in our continuing OA journey our trigger foods can change so that foods that weren’t a problem in the beginning can become trigger foods later.

I realized it was time to take inventory of my eating and really be honest. My three meals were still fine, but I was allowing little snacks not at my mealtimes. I was allowing a big loophole in following “progress, not perfection” by twisting the “not perfection” part in my thinking. It is possible to abuse a simple OA slogan, folks! I realized that the progress part was not even true—it was being cancelled out—because I abused the “not perfection” part. The guilt I have been feeling and the slow weight gain of 10 pounds (5 kg) told me this was not what my HP wanted for me. I was violating myself. A change was needed, and I took full measures to eliminate these new triggers.

Thank God for the OA program. It is truly a program that fits us all even when our clothes don’t.

— Judy

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