Recovery Relationships Writing Away Resentments I imagine many members of OA have issues with their parents. Here is how I solved my problem with my mother. My mom and I never got along because she was so controlling and at times was abusive during my childhood. I felt completely controlled by her and also misunderstood and, frankly, unrecognized for who I was. I started eating … Read More
Higher Power Power by Committee Three years ago, I came in the doors of OA as a 500-pound (227-kg), spiritually bankrupt King Baby. Either God was a jerk or didn’t exist, so “whatever” was my spirituality. It was all about me and what I wanted, anyway, so why let that get in the way? While I had no real issue with Step One, finding a … Read More
Recovery Relationships A New Love Song In my late 30s, I got way too excited about writing songs with my church’s music director. For several months, as we collaborated, I flirted with him and got enmeshed with his dream of selling songs commercially. I’d always been overweight, but during this time I was so alight with creative and sexual energy that I barely slept or ate, … Read More
Recovery Relationships Applying Traditions, Accepting Others My oldest daughter in her early teens caused me a great many problems—this was in the mid-1990s. Coincidentally at that time, Lifeline featured a series of articles on various Traditions. During one of my weekly phone calls with my sponsor, I mentioned those Lifeline articles. She suggested I go through the Traditions and see how many of them applied to … Read More
Recovery Relationships From Mother to Child For many years I blamed my mother for conditions in our family that fostered my addictive nature and compulsive relationship with food. Because ours was such a confusing mixture of love and resentment, and because I never received the support and guidance I needed, I never thought I would want to bring a child into this world. Thank goodness for … Read More
Recovery Relationships Healing Relationships With OA Traditions I was one of those people who, when first arriving at OA is interested in all aspects of OA except for ____. And I had a list of what I was interested in and willing to give my time and attention to. The Twelve Steps? Yes. Telling someone what I ate? No. Getting a sponsor? No! Then came another bottom … Read More
Recovery Relationships Present and Available I’m very grateful my partner is not a compulsive overeater or a manager of my recovery. Recovery has helped me have a more genuine relationship with him. Before OA, I just wanted him to go to bed so I could binge. I realized in OA that my primary relationship really was with food. This food focus also applied to friends … Read More
Literature A Story and a Sign I was in a situation recently where I was required to wait patiently (not my strong suit); I got out an old Lifeline to help me behave properly. When I opened it, it fell open to the perfect article for me, a story that dealt with letting go of compulsive action and surrendering an emotion-packed situation to a Higher Power. My … Read More