Diversity Fellowship Meetings Diversity and Disability Q: My sister tried to attend an Overeaters Anonymous meeting. She’s obese, with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. She’s also deaf. She was lucky enough to find a member of the group who knew American Sign Language and could sign for her. Unfortunately, one of the other group members complained that the signing was distracting. The translator felt … Read More
Recovery Relationships Recovery through Divorce My ex-husband and I divorced about five and a half years into my recovery. It was a painful process, but the Tools and Traditions of the OA program sustained me in a variety of ways: Service. Initially, I served as convention treasurer to give me a focus on something other than the divorce. Sponsorship and telephone. I relied more on … Read More
Recovery Relationships Simple and Wonderful For me, some of the hardest people to be comfortable with are members of my family of origin. I’m the only one who’s in a Twelve Step program, and sometimes when I’m with them, I feel like I’m in another world—yes, the world I had lived in too, until six years ago when I found my way back to the … Read More
Steps Try Attraction “No-Apologies ‘Carefrontration’” (May/ June 2019, pp. 8–9) gave me pause, such that I reread it several times. I found the approach a bit troubling. No matter how hard I try, I’ll never be able to make another person become abstinent. I don’t believe that is what the Steps, Traditions, and Concepts of OA Service tell me to do. Step One … Read More
Steps Traditions Group-Level Effort Service at the group level is that which can be accomplished by the group members on a weekly basis. Tradition Eight at the group level reminds me that I’m just one of many trying to survive the disease of compulsive eating. The longer I’m in program, the more I realize I don’t know what will work for anyone other than … Read More
Recovery Working the Program Contributing Part When I first became aware of the Traditions, I could see how important they were. And without Tradition Seven, we would have no OA, because how can any organization run without funding? When one member of OA is not able to contribute much, all of us can contribute more to ensure that the expenses are met. The whole concept of … Read More
Steps Traditions Simplicity and Beauty Before program, I dealt with work, family, and friendship challenges through power and manipulation. Tradition Two taught me another way. It suggests we serve and let HP govern. When faced with a difficulty in an OA group, Tradition Two gives me step-by-step instructions: (1) ask for guidance from HP; (2) discuss the issue carefully; (3) vote; (4) trust HP’s will. … Read More
Steps Traditions Generous, Willing, and Responsible Studying and working the Seventh Tradition has been one of the most important gifts of my recovery from the disease of compulsive eating. Learning to do my part has taught me how to behave responsibly in all aspects of my life. Truly, I hadn’t known that doing a service or making a donation could be the pathway for me to … Read More
Steps Traditions Light Reaching Out Why would you care about a visibly overweight stranger? A person who needs a chair to sit on during long strolls through a department store? A person whose breathing you can hear as you travel close by them in an elevator? Do you understand a person who never seems to gain weight yet always eats or a person who shows … Read More
Traditions Focus on the Message When I first came to OA, I was a very complicated person (by my own doing) who responded to uncertainty, frustration, resentment, and fear by overeating. At my very first meeting, however, the OA message was delivered right on target, with two of the four members present sharing succinctly how they got over compulsive overeating. By their visible appearance, all … Read More
