Abstinence Directions to Follow By admin Posted on February 15, 2016 4 min read 0 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Reddit Share on Pinterest Share on Linkedin Share on Tumblr Abstinence is the most important thing in my life without exception. Because of the seriousness of this disease, I don’t fool around with my abstinence. I’ve seen the horrific consequences of taking that first bite, and I want no part of it. I want this amazing life in recovery I have today, thanks to OA, the Twelve Steps, and my Higher Power. I never want to go back to the hell of overeating, not even just a little bit. I’m grateful for my abstinence (freedom from compulsive overeating) today, and each day for almost twenty-eight years. It was suggested to me to know my abstinence date and keep it. That’s my plan for today. I’ve learned to put nothing before or above my abstinence—not my job, my husband, my children, my education, my exercise, not even my Higher Power. My first sponsor taught me that if I chose to return to the food I’d probably lose all those things anyway. This sponsor led me through the first nine Steps in my first eighteen months and then helped me learn to live in Steps Ten, Eleven, and Twelve for the next four and a half years. So whatever happens in my life, I just don’t eat over it. I do whatever it takes to not take that first bite. In the last six months, I’ve moved six times and started a new job, and my food has been clean. In the last twenty-eight years, I’ve gotten married and had two children and lived and worked in four different countries and gone back to school, and I have been abstinent. How amazing is that?! I’m so very grateful for clean food. It leads to a (usually) clean head and heart, which leads to a “life of sane and happy usefulness” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 130). No bite of any food could be worth losing what I have today through this program. I’m up at 1:00 a.m., restless with anxiety about my new job and home. I moved in five days ago, and I need a meeting. I’m getting to one tomorrow night. I usually sleep worry-free and like a baby, thanks to Steps Ten and Eleven and the simple, daily directions on pages 84 to 88 in the AA Big Book. So I realize if I want to stay abstinent and sleep soundly, I need to write and give Twelfth Step service. Thus, this Lifeline article on abstinence. Have a sane and abstinent day. — Ana
