Newcomers So Rewarding Newcomers help me remember the desperation that got me into OA. Newcomers remind me how powerful this disease is and how powerless I am over food. When a newcomer is at a meeting, I share my recovery, strength, and hope and stay in the solution. When I take on a newcomer as a sponsee, it is so rewarding. My recovery is boosted by … Read More
Working the Program Working Lessons Thirty-one months after my first OA meeting I still feel very much an OA baby, if not a newcomer any longer. I remember vividly how it felt to ring the bell of the Bath House, where the Cambridge UK Thursday evening group meets. Although I had previous experience in another Twelve Step fellowship, I was apprehensive about OA, but the … Read More
Traditions Building Balance For me, the beauty of unity is realizing I’m not alone in this disease of compulsive eating. I never knew that others had the same beast inside, compelling them to eat everything in sight—I felt like a freak because of it, a freak inside and out, my heavy body an outward manifestation of the obsession within. Just knowing I’m not … Read More
Recovery Rescue Work In my professional life, I am a medical doctor with a PhD. Don’t ask me how I managed—I don’t know how, considering all the emotional and spiritual difficulties I carried with 115 kg (254 lbs) on my body. Perhaps my profession was the only thing I thought I could be good at, so I worked a lot and published many … Read More
How OA Changed My Life The Dress Fits When I read “My Favorite Color” in the July 2015 Lifeline, my heart lifted. I too want to share the joy of living and the freedom that I have found in OA. In a few months, my oldest granddaughter will marry. Rather than spending months fretting over what to wear to the wedding, I knew immediately what I will wear: … Read More