How many times I have thought “I don’t belong in OA.” Yet I’ve been coming back for more than six years, and I’m so glad I’ve stayed. My only regret is I didn’t find out about OA until I was almost 70 years old, because the changes that I have experienced in my thinking have been far greater that I’d dreamed possible. By working the Twelve Steps, using the Traditions in my everyday life, and reading OA-approved literature, I am now so much happier.
The changes that I have experienced in my thinking have been far greater than I’d dreamed possible.
Before coming into OA, I had tried dieting. I believed in God, but no matter how much I tried to stop my gluttony, I was always hungry. I’d ask for forgiveness and make promises, but I couldn’t keep them. For a time, it didn’t make sense to me why I was incapable of obeying the God of my understanding and stopping my gluttonous behaviors. But all of that changed when I came to OA.
I began the program with a rigid food plan given to me by a sponsor. That helped me get started because I was used to being told what to do. As I progressed in OA, I discovered that no one can really tell someone else what to do (apart from the higher power of their choosing). That made a difference in the way I related to OA sponsors and sponsees and others in my life. If my sponsee chooses to do things a certain way, I am able to leave it with the God of my understanding. In “Acceptance was the Answer” the Big Book says, “Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s world by mistake” (Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, p. 417). Probably the greatest benefit I have received in this program is a realization that each person is a gift to me, regardless of what they believe. There is only one thing that matters in OA: we are all compulsive eaters.
There is no other program that has given me so much hope, joy, and freedom.
I used to walk everywhere to try to keep my weight down. Now, I take a walk most mornings to enjoy the birds and trees, and get together with a sprightly 80-plus-year-old. My gratitude list at night often lists the various birds we saw in the morning. If rain cancels our walk, I don’t feel anxious like I used to. Exercise is in its right place.
Lately at public occasions, I’ve been able to ask for God’s help in making wise choices around food. I avoid my triggers, but my disease can still present itself. One day, I was offered something that is considered “good for you” when taken in small amounts. Without thinking, I said, “I’ll put it on my food plan,” but I realized later it is one of my trigger foods—that had been a compulsive food thought. I told the person I wouldn’t have it after all.
I definitely belong in OA. There is no other program that has given me so much hope, joy, and freedom. Thank you, OA, Lifeline, and all the people who have made it possible for this overeater to keep off the food.
—Elaine, New Zealand
