A (Virtual) Place to Serve I love service! I do! One of the things I love most is helping people make new connections. In 2016, the World Service Business Conference made changes to OA’s Statement on Public Media, allowing us to carry the message in new places and spaces around the world, and I jumped in with both feet by creating not one, but two … Read More
Social Media Benefits When I first started connecting with OA friends on social media, I was a bit wary about it. I was concerned it would somehow lead to a break in anonymity, even if only accidentally. I’m quite open with friends and family that I’m in OA, but I also wanted to be respectful of the Traditions and didn’t want to risk … Read More
Familiar Format I am on social media a lot, and I was fortunate to be among the first members of the first registered OA group on a popular social media site. We follow all Twelve Traditions of OA and have two meetings a week. I found my sponsors through this group. Through the site, I message one of them daily about my food, … Read More
As Written and with Urgency I am nine months into recovery in OA and more happy, joyous, and free than I could ever have imagined. And I do mean ever. My heart bursts with the love I have found for my HP through working the program as written. Yet, at the same time, I am almost crying with pain. It’s pain not unlike the pain … Read More
Focus on Unity I have been a member of Overeaters Anonymous since the early 1980s. I have attended OA meetings in the US states of Florida, South Carolina, Utah, and Maryland and in the country of Israel. There are many differences among these places—in cultures, geographies, and customs. But at every meeting, parts or all of the Steps were read and parts or … Read More
Birthday at Home Recently, I had the privilege of celebrating both my twentieth OA birthday and the twentieth birthday of my OA home group. I met OA for the first time at this group’s very first meeting. For this event, we asked our intergroup to invite other OA groups to join and celebrate our journey toward recovery. We had more than double our … Read More
OA from A to Z December 2009: I was eating my way through the holidays, agonizing over not being able to control myself after more than twenty-five years of dieting. I weighed 213 pounds (97 kg) and my excess weight was taking a greater toll on my well-being than ever before. I was sure of only two things: first, that I no longer had it … Read More
Beauty and Worth I came into the rooms of OA in September of 2009. My husband and I were going to New Zealand in 2010 and my pride and ego could not face returning there while I weighed more than 280 pounds (127 kg). Nothing I had ever tried before worked for very long, but then I overheard a woman sharing her message … Read More
Combined Strength I need meetings to be strong, vibrant places where a variety of voices express recovery through each person’s story of experience, strength, and hope. I grow concerned when I hear about OA meetings shrinking or closing entirely. Fewer meetings with fewer members means danger for me. I need support, and I need to be able to reach out to others. … Read More
Virtual Help I found OA through an email loop. The loop showed me what OA was like and gave me hope and strength. After a month of email loop meetings, I went to my first live virtual meeting, a voice chat about Step One. There, I received my miracle. With an open mind, I accepted Step One and began abstaining from binge … Read More
