Recovery Relationships Emotion Manager I am a compulsive overeater and powerless over sugar. It’s embarrassing to admit that publicly because many people laugh when they hear it. But I joined OA twenty-four years ago, and I’m recovering one day at a time. Physical recovery is happening slowly but surely. Where I’ve really seen progress in my life is in my emotional recovery. Working the … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Recovery Joy on the Job My family has a very strong work ethic that I inherited. However, I also had blind spots that affected my working life in ways I never grasped until I felt inspired to do a complete inventory of my job history. A new Fourth Step inventory is what it took to open my eyes to all the character defects and shortcomings … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Recovery Applying the Traditions This year I will celebrate my twenty-first anniversary with my large corporate employer, a miracle I can only attribute to the OA program and my Higher Power. I am grateful for this continuing gainful employment that has enabled me to provide financially for myself and my now-grown children. I am exceedingly mindful that this anniversary might not have come to … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Recovery Three Words I am alive. When I reflect on the mistakes I’ve made, I realize how lucky I am to be alive: I seem to find balance when I least anticipate it, through luck and working the Twelve Steps. Perhaps that’s because coincidence is simply Higher Power being anonymous. One way to accept that I’m fully alive is by understanding that I … Read More
How OA Changed My Life Recovery Work-World Recovery Two years ago, I was hired to work as a workshop leader at a treatment and rehabilitation facility in California, so I travel there every other month. About a month ago, I was outside, walking along the coast, when it hit me hard: I have this opportunity only because OA changed my life and brought me into the world of recovery. … Read More
Abstinence Preparation and Perception Recovery in the workplace certainly has its challenges for me. I’m the receptionist for a big organization with a large lobby area. Constantly, lunch spreads and snacks are placed right in front of my desk area. Having to see and smell these items, which are usually off my food plan, can make workplace abstinence a real battlefield for me. I … Read More