Instead fo being absent from quality time with family and friends, I’ll be able to do my part and make living amends.
This October and November, I am grateful that I will have weekends off to spend with family and friends. The last time I remember having weekends off was ten years ago, before I became a full-time grad school student and worked weekends to support myself. It’s been a big change for me. Instead of always being absent from events and quality time with family and friends, I’ll be able to do my part and make living amends by giving and receiving from the most loving and supportive relationships that I am privy to.
Working a rigorous program of OA with honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness means being transparent with my loved one when I have to go to meetings, take a phone call, eat according to the food plan developed by my nutritionist, report the food I’ve eaten to my sponsor, and make a timely amends for the harm that I caused someone or some situation.
In recovery, I no longer seek my thrills from the holiday goodies or “free food” leftovers that used to tempt me during these times. Going into my thirteenth month of recovery in October is spooky enough to scare my disease. Instead of wearing my shame (I think of a toilet-papered tree in the rain) or feeling despair like a broken pumpkin in the street, I feel abundance, like a thoughtfully arranged cornucopia of blessings.
In fact, my financially conscious sponsor is helping me overcome my miserly money attitude and scarcity mentality. Instead of late-night binges in the dark with my hands quietly burglarizing the refrigerator, this holiday season, I plan to abstinently host feasts of joy and celebration to share my blessings with my family and friends.
Wishing my fellow travelers many abstinent and intuitive 24 hours ahead.
—Jacki, Connecticut USA
