Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Reddit Share on Pinterest Share on Linkedin Share on Tumblr From October through December, I used to engage in an eating frenzy that appeared to have no end. I absolutely could not comprehend that a Higher Power of any kind would be interested in my food issues, and my feelings of unworthiness and shame continued unabated. I just endured the process, as if it was a project I had to finish. When at last I got into recovery, somewhere along the line I heard a saying: “Any holiday is just another twenty-four hours.” What an eye-opener. It would take time for me to fully absorb this new information, but at some point I must have become willing to treat each day of this eating season as just another day of healthy food choices in moderate volumes. My days no longer focused on food-centered holiday activities. Instead, I filled my days with people-centered activities. In addition, I began each day with Step work, prayer and meditation, contact with my sponsor, some form of outreach contact, and just getting ready to live that day’s planned activities. Saying the Eleventh Step Prayer that appears in AA’s Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (p. 99) is one way I focused on outward thinking rather than on myself. In fact, the suggestions for working Step Eleven as they appear in the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., pp. 86–88) still give me such guidance about how to get through anxious feelings and thoughts. Following that guidance, I began to have a plan for each day— long before OA developed our action plan Tool. That plan included using diversionary options when I was confronted with food—most often, helping another person by working our beautiful Step Twelve. — J.M., USA
