Steps Traditions Staying on Point Have you ever started a conversation with someone and from the beginning of the talk to the ending the purpose or focus or topic changed five or six times, whereby the end of the conversation was miles away from the subject that was initially discussed? Personally, this diversion frustrates me; however, it’s human nature. It happens to us all, and … Read More
Steps Perfect Peace The Fifth Step: what a daunting Step it was for me as a newcomer (and still is today)! However, as the Big Book says, “If we skip this vital step, we may not overcome . . .” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 72). After having written my Fourth Step, I was hesitant to conduct the Fifth Step. However, since I … Read More
Fellowship World Service, Worldwide Friends I’ve long been a self-proclaimed “service junkie.” I learned very early the benefits of attending more than just one group. I’ve also reaped the benefits of having a sponsor and being a sponsor. It didn’t take me long at all to get involved at the group, intergroup, region, and world service levels, and I’ve been blessed to attend some of … Read More
Convention Fellowship The Funnest Thing I’ve Ever Done In 1995, I’d been in OA for seven years, and I got a new car. An OA friend and I decided to drive to the World Service Convention in Minneapolis. Although the trip planner we used said it was twenty hours away, it took us thirty-three hours to drive there. We stayed for thirty-three hours, and we drove another thirty-three … Read More
Recovery Relationships Loving Amends Why did I feel like eating? I was working on my Eighth and Ninth Steps—that should have been a clue right there—and I just could not get rid of the hatred I felt toward my grandmother. “Boys don’t cry!”—that’s what she said! So I ate instead, up to over 400 pounds (181 kg)! I knew I wasn’t supposed to hate her, … Read More
Steps Empowering Discovery When I first came to OA thirty-three years ago, I was a bundle of resentments. I’m sure I resented almost everyone in my life, and my coping mechanism was to try to be nice to others so that they would feel bad and do what I wanted them to. But that never seemed to work for very long, so I … Read More
Steps Traditions The Big Picture Decisions Our group considers itself free to make its own decisions, guided by a Higher Power. We don’t have to have certain values or particular ways of doing things just because some other groups do. No one can make us do things the way they think is right. We are free to do things the way we think is right. But … Read More
Steps Traditions The Daily-ness of Surrender Surrender is a daily practice that I can choose or not: “the daily treatment that brings about our recovery,” as it says at the end of Step One (p. 7) in our Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition. All I have is a “daily reprieve” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. 85). For my recovery, taking the … Read More
Steps Traditions Accessible to All When I showed up at my first OA meeting, I did not have the desire to stop eating compulsively. I was morbidly obese and had lost and gained large amounts of weight throughout my life. My desires back then were different. I wanted to be thin. I wanted the emotional pain to stop. I wanted a reason to continue living. … Read More
Recovery A Celebration of Freedom I have had the good fortune of attending two World Service Conventions since I became a member of Overeaters Anonymous in 1980. My first was in New York City in 1997, and the venue was an iconic hotel. Although I lived in New Jersey, I’d never had the opportunity to stay at such a landmark in the heart the city … Read More
