Serenity Through the Holidays
“It’s that time of year again,” says Edward, “when the national focus is placed on . . . food!” Learn how Edward uses his recovery to change the focus of any holiday from food to living in recovery.
Abstinence
My Junk Food Habit Was Like a Part-Time Job; Now I’m an Investor in Recovery
Every night, Meg went out shopping for snacks. She’d come home, stuff herself, and then suffer from bad sleep caused by her compulsive eating. “I’d feel my ongoing failure as a human being,” she recalls. But after finding abstinence in OA, she now says “I feel light-hearted and excited about life. I’m blessed with so much more.”
It Is So Freeing to Be Out of the Food and Into My Day
A healthy check-in from Rosanne’s sponsee leads Rosanne to reflect on what it was like for her before she found OA. “I wanted to be thin but not give up the food. . . . OA encouraged me with more than just food issues—I no longer felt alone.”
I Have Found Contentment and Freedom While Working the Steps
Even with two relapses, Christine has found that life in the OA program is immeasurably better than life before OA. “Abstinence is the most important thing in my life,” she says.
Today I Can Celebrate a Sane and Healthy Relationship with Food
”I’d tried millions of times to have a sane and healthy relationship with food and failed miserably each time,” says Trish. After nine months in the OA program, she can now say, “I love my life.”
And Now a Word From Our Founder
A collection of inspiring speeches given by OA’s founder Rozanne S. at World Service Business Conferences in 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2001.
Thirty Days of Abstinence!
Before, I was ready to explode at any time, but now it seems that without excess food and junk food, space has opened for me to think calmly and either solve things with more serenity or . . . really deliver it to a Higher Power. I’ve reached my twenty-ninth day of abstinence. Tomorrow will … Continued
It Can Happen to Anyone
“Melissa shares how the challenges of loss, grief, and personal struggle tested her long-term recovery, ultimately deepening her reliance on OA, her Higher Power, and the support of others.”
Nothing Stopping Me
I heard the Second Step and had a spiritual experience that I’ve never forgotten,” says N.P., who went on to lose 75 pounds (34 kg) after joining OA. “Nothing could keep me from coming back.”
First Things
After four and a half years in OA, Rachel had experienced both solid abstinence and a period when life’s challenges had her surviving but not thriving. “What really propelled me through,” she says of this challenging time in her life, “was working another set of Steps.”