Recovery Working the Program Learning More Each Day After several starts, I found myself knowing that OA was for me, thanks to the acceptance I got from longtimers and other members. Attending meetings, finding a sponsor, learning to work the Steps, and using all the Tools and literature of OA in my program greatly improved my relationships with family and friends. Once I obtained abstinence, I discovered what … Read More
Service Tools & Concepts Elect to Serve! The next time you see upcoming nominations and elections of your intergroup’s board members, I want to encourage you to participate in the nomination and election process. Do it for your fellows and do it for yourself. Here are some of the benefits that I have received in the past year doing service at the individual, meeting, and intergroup level. … Read More
Recovery Relationships Through and Through I do not know why I belong to OA. What I do know is that I do belong. I am a member through and through. All my life, I have struggled to feel “a part of.” Now, in this Fellowship, I truly have found the home and place where I belong. Often when I see funny pictures and scenes online, … Read More
Meetings Tools & Concepts OA Is For Me OA is for me—and it has been ever since a friend brought me to program in December 1981. People of all shapes and sizes told my story. I found a place where I belong. Despite sometimes feeling like I belong in a subset of OA, due to multiple allergies, afflictions, anxiety, and depression, I belong. I am here because I’m … Read More
Recovery Relationships Laugh In It’s such a blessing to laugh at myself, to see humor in the midst of misery. There’s so much laughter in the rooms, laughter at how ridiculous we are in the disease. The laughter is healing. It connects us—all of us, we all relate. We relate and we laugh and we know we’re not alone in these experiences, these thoughts, … Read More
Share It sharing Doing Service Anyway I so appreciated reading the Service and Recovery story in the March 2018 issue of Lifeline (“Speaker Go-Getter”). It reminded me of everything I have learned in Overeaters Anonymous about remaining abstinent: by reaching out to others, we create the framework for our own recovery. When I was very new, the secretary of a Saturday meeting asked me to lead the meeting … Read More
Atheists & Agnostics No Need to Know I am writing for myself and those who feel they don’t really belong in OA. I’m writing for the atheists and agnostics. My Dad was in recovery in another Twelve Step fellowship for thirty years. He was also agnostic. Over the years when I was growing up, I’d ask him, “Do you think there is a God?” He would always … Read More
