Relapse Twelfth Step Within All the Way In A couple of months ago, I was out walking my dogs when I received a call from one of the many names in my contacts list to which I’d given the last name only as “OA.” I answered and was happy to chat with an OA fellow whom I’d met several years earlier in the town where I’d first attended … Read More
Telephone Tools & Concepts Mountain Call I’ve always loved hiking and being in the mountains. When I gained enough confidence after three years of working an OA program, I signed up for a seven-day mountaineering trip. We would hike over snow and ice in the Canadian Rockies, carrying all our equipment and food and staying in alpine huts along the way. I was one of the … 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
Service Tools & Concepts Health Fair Help from HP One Friday in September, from noon to 6:00 p.m., our DC Metro Intergroup sponsored a table at a wellness fair in Silver Spring, Maryland USA. I had my doubts about coordinating for the fair and wanted to back out numerous times. But then I was reminded—I did not have to do anything alone, and HP was in charge. I contacted … Read More
Meetings Tools & Concepts One More Tool I have been abstinent from bulimia for eleven years and abstinent from anorexia for ten years. I access the oa.org website to learn about all types of meetings so I can participate. Relying on the fact that I have choices about face-to-face, phone, and online meetings helps my recovery because I know I can use that meeting Tool and be of … Read More
Service Twelfth Step Within Lifeline I am a grateful, abstinent, Lifeline-subscribing member of OA. I love and appreciate our magazine. I have a stack of old Lifelines, and recently my HP inspired me to suggest a good way to use them. When making a Twelfth Step Within call, why not give the prospect a copy of an old Lifeline? I like this idea and recently … Read More
Service Speaker Go-Getter I’ve been in OA this time around for sixteen years. Before that I was in for eight years, then out for five. For all of these years, I resisted taking a certain service position: Program Chair (or Speaker Getter). It seemed like too much pressure for me to handle. In June, I relented and decided to give the position a … Read More
Service Tools & Concepts Easy Service Commitments Service is one of the ways I stay in recovery and out of relapse. When I came back to program last April, I knew that taking continuous action was the only way to keep my program moving forward. The first thing I did was commit to service at the group level because that’s key to getting me to a regular meeting. … Read More
Recovery Relationships Finally Understood In May 2015, I was up 30 pounds (14 kg) from a yearlong sugar binge. Though I had been on a constant roller-coaster of losing and gaining, this was the highest weight gain I had experienced in seven years. It was at this low point that I first began to realize my powerlessness over food. I had not yet found … Read More
Twelfth Step Within Designating a Position Within Twelfth Step Within Day is coming! What will you be doing on December 12? On the twelfth day of the twelfth month every year, OA members strengthen our Fellowship by reaching out to still-suffering members within the program: members in relapse, members who have fallen away, and members needing extra support. This December 12, consider arranging a special event or … Read More