Virtual Gifts

The gifts of this program are incredible. Once, I was in the food and in a relationship with a partner who hated what I adore: the people, language, and country of France. Now, I’m abstinent. I was able to leave that relationship, and I’ve moved to France for a year. God has truly turned my hopeless, trapped existence to one of freedom and dreams coming true.

The reality of moving from New Zealand to France was a bit daunting, but, by working the program and taking each action step one day at a time, I was able to get everything ready. I knew there would be fewer face-to-face, English-speaking meetings in France, but I heard from OA’s Region Ten that videoconference meetings are available. Thank goodness for videoconferencing and easy access to virtual meetings! I can easily sign in, hear people from back home, and feel reconnected again. I regularly listen to podcasts through a smartphone app, and I’m also connected to an OA group on social media. These things have certainly helped keep my program strong while I’m isolated overseas.

My virtual program is fantastic, yet I’ve found I still need personal connections with others, so I make sure to talk to my sponsor and other OA members one-on-one. I’m currently in a region of France where I can go to a few English-speaking meetings every week. After spending four months abroad without a face-to-face meeting, I was really craving seeing fellow OA members in the flesh. My disease loves isolation, and it can take my mind on weird trains of thought, so I need to talk to other compulsive overeaters to hear the truth about what I’m thinking. My recovery is perched on my practice of making contact with others and hearing God’s will for me through them.

I’m extremely grateful there are virtual services to complement my program while I am overseas. It means I can live dreams that, before program, I couldn’t have imagined were possible.

— Tessa S., Auckland, New Zealand