Eight Other Tools

Here I sit, self-quarantined in the middle of a viral pandemic after returning home from the teeming petri dishes of an airport and airplane. I’ve been advised to stay put for two weeks, which is just as well since some of my meetings are closed indefinitely. So, what’s a compulsive overeater to do? Isolate? I think not. Last time I checked, I have eight other Tools to help me maintain my abstinence.

Let’s start with anonymity. I have given out both my phone number and e-mail address to anyone in program I can reach. In this case, I am thrilled silly to let anyone know I’m a compulsive overeater in need of support.

By calling, texting, and e-mailing others, I’ve utilized the Tools of telephone and writing. Additionally, I have asked people to give others my phone number and e-mail address so we can share our feelings directly. I also plan to utilize telephone meetings to maintain contact with the program. Plus, I have continued to write every day in an online For Today loop and forward my posts to my sponsor and sponsees. Before bed each night, I’ve done a written Tenth Step in the form of letter to God, so that I am in conscious contact with my Higher Power and my inner self.

But wait, there’s more! My action plan includes using the rest of the Tools. For instance, I have continued to read my literature daily, including For Today and Voices of Recovery, the Big Book, and other Conference-approved OA literature.

I’ve kept busy in the afternoons with service, contacting the World Service Office and Region Eight offices, along with my intergroup’s web goddess, to give updates about meeting cancellations in my area and the moves of face-to-face meetings to online venues. To gather this information, I was in touch with several of our meetings’ host facilities to learn which organizations still allow meetings and which do not. I’ve also done service by checking in with other members.

I’ve used the Tool of sponsorship by checking in with my sponsor (in truth, I stopped writing right here to call him), and I’ve responded to calls, texts, and e-mails from sponsees every day.

Last, but far from least, I have remained faithfully committed to my plan of eating, a vital ingredient to my abstinence, especially during this highly stressful time.

So yes, I greatly miss face-to-face meetings, but I have not had to isolate. There are eight other blessed ways to work my program, and I will keep using them until and after it’s safe to return to meetings. Meanwhile I will pray and meditate, work the Steps, and strive to live by the Principles to enrich my program. I do have another choice, but I ain’t going back there over some stinkin’ virus.

— Anonymous