Recovery Working the Program The Essential Me I’m juggling a lot of stressful family and work responsibilities right now. It’s easy to get lost in the potent stew of “must-do’s,” worry, and expectations (both mine and others’) and find myself trying to control events, people, feelings, and outcomes and make everything “right.” (Right, of course, means “my way.”) That’s how I used to live, on the adrenaline … Read More
Gratitude Recovery Roll Slow A gratitude item of mine has been “Learning to slow my roll, so I can learn my role.” And it still holds true every day of my OA program of recovery. What a gift! When I slow down, my Higher Power can show me the right path to take, the right choices to make, the right words to say, the … Read More
Gratitude Recovery Gifts Abundant and Accessible My area is blessed with a face-to-face meeting that occurs at noon every weekday. As a young professional, I’m thankful for this regular lunchtime meeting, though often, when I am able to make it, I’m rushing in and out between work appointments. Rushing, to be honest, is a byproduct of some character defects I’m asking my Higher Power to remove: … Read More
Recovery Working the Program Urge Surfing “What can I do instead of eating, when the urge arises?” In 1994, if someone had posed this question to me, my response would’ve been, “Don’t eat.” The result would probably have been compulsively eating and bingeing. This was prior to finding OA, and I was in a cycle of dieting, starving, compulsively overeating, restricting, self-loathing, and eating in secret. … Read More
Tools & Concepts In Good Stead I joined OA in 2009. Below is a list of behaviors and actions I took (in addition to getting a sponsor, working the Twelve Steps, and using the Tools) in the past eighteen months that helped me stay abstinent and spiritually and emotionally recover. Without the program, I don’t think I could have done these things for myself. I live … Read More