How OA Changed My Life One Small Part Learning to take small actions toward completing projects has been the greatest, most functional difference in my life since I came into this Twelve Step program. Before, any big chunks I had to do went undone, or only got partially done, and were followed by self-deprecation because I could not see the end. Plus, my job was overwhelming. This was a … Read More
Higher Power Another Leap “Act as if” was a concept I found hard to comprehend. Fake it until you make it? Wouldn’t that be lying to myself and being something I’m not? I just did not get it. I had always been encouraged to do things I wanted to do, but never felt that I could. My excuses varied: I was too fat. I … Read More
Abstinence Simple and Sane After more than five years in OA, I can look back and see the grace of my Higher Power in the early actions of my sponsor when she immediately suggested we work through The Twelve-Step Workbook of Overeaters Anonymous. One of the earliest benefits of our work together was that I became aware of how much time, energy, and effort I’d … Read More
Fellowship Unity Day Totally Immersed My first Unity Day was in February, 2010. I had just started attending meetings, but I had no idea how the program worked. At a Unity Day celebration, I was exposed to dozens of people working the Steps. It wasn’t about being overweight; it was about sanity. At a workshop, I made friends who encouraged me to work the Steps, … Read More
Traditions Course to Consensus We may be a group of abstinent and recovering compulsive overeaters, but our individual defects seem to be quick to surface when important decisions need to be made, especially decisions that affect our group and meeting format. Thank goodness we have the Traditions to guide us. “Our common welfare should come first,” but Tradition One is hard to follow sometimes … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Oh Baby Before I found abstinence and started working the Twelve Steps of OA, my life was falling apart in every way imaginable . . . My health was suffering from the extra 90 pounds (41 kg) I carried, and I was at risk of losing my job in the military because of my weight. If I lost my job, I would … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Working the Program Faith Relationship The most profound change after OA is in the quality of my relationships. When I face a challenging situation with another person, recovery gives me a moment of pause to rein in my temper, take responsibility for my feelings, and then speak and act from a place of compassionate acceptance. I’m particularly grateful for the ability to be more calm … Read More
Higher Power Perfect Understanding To see where I am and how I got here, I must look into the past, where the God of my understanding put people, places, and situations in my path. Perhaps he was using the Tool of anonymity when he made me trip over coincidences to get me into recovery. I had a chance to try another way of living because … Read More
Abstinence What I Needed When I started OA in August 2015, I thought many things about the program seemed unnecessary or ought to be changed. Some of the Tools seemed pointless—what did they have to do with losing weight? The Twelve Steps seemed good, but surely I didn’t need to work them, because I had dealt with all that stuff before (I thought). I … Read More
Steps Step 5: Seeing My Part When I arrived in OA, I was full of anger, resentment, blame, guilt, and a lot of other negative emotions. When someone did a “wrong” to me, it was his or her fault and never mine. Everything that happened to me was not my fault. Life wasn’t good to me; I was always the innocent person being hurt. When I … Read More