I want to let you know how much the action plan Tool means to me. I tried OA fifteen years ago but just wasn’t ready. When I came back to the program, I read about the action plan in my Newcomer Packet. I started using it the very next day. Since then, I’ve been abstinent with only two breaks (early …

A light bulb went on in my head. I got it! After reading the Twelve Steps, I realized my stress and my worries were causing my overeating. Now I put all of that in God’s hands. I don’t worry anymore. It’s wonderful! It’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I now get Lifeline, and I’m very aware …

Finally, my schedule allows me to go to the best meeting in town. I’m about to browse the literature table when I see a large man, with matted hair on his head and a bush of frowzy facial hair, standing just inside the meeting room. Today’s weather is sunny and bright, but he is buttoned up in a bulky, full-length …

I stood in the middle of the living room as my mother pinned my new jeans to hem them. (I was about to enter the seventh grade.) The front door opened, and a neighbor walked in. The neighbor took one look at me and said, “She’s getting fat!” That was the beginning of my first diet. I began to starve …

Who would have thought, when I entered my first OA meeting six months ago, that my life was going to change in every conceivable way? After almost forty years of yo-yo diets and spending most of my adult life on diet pills, I was about to discover my weight problem had nothing to do with willpower. What an eye-opener that …

When I came into OA, I met a longtimer I particularly admired. She was slender and energetic. She shared wisdom and love with everyone in the rooms and had an irresistible sparkle about her. When we passed around the phone list, though, she did something that confused me. In the “Comments” column, she wrote, “Always a beginner!” Why on earth, …

I volunteered to write Lifeline about OA’s Responsibility Pledge, but when I started thinking about my stories on this topic, I realized I don’t have any great anecdotes about saving anyone. So I told myself I was foolish for volunteering. I generally mull things over before I do any writing, so I let a couple of days pass. Then I …

No one comes to a Twelve Step program on an upswing, and I was no exception. I was overweight and felt certain foods were the problem. I asked my husband of eighteen years to move out; I thought he was the problem. I wasn’t communicating well with my adult children, so they were the problem. Meanwhile, an acquaintance from another …