Stepping Into a Vocation
Alan’s grandmother helped raise him, but later, Alan couldn’t bring himself to visit her in the nursing home. Working Step Nine, found a way to make a living amends and find a new passion for public health.
Relationships
Step Nine: “The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps” Podcast Series
Tina, a recovering compulsive overeater, and Gloria, a compulsive overeater and food addict, host this workshop on Step Nine: “Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.” They give specific examples to show what making amends can look like in different situations.
Step Two: “The Importance of Working All Twelve Steps” Podcast Series
Mary, a compulsive overeater, hosts this workshop on OA’s Second Step, which some regard as a bridge from the powerlessness of Step One to the resolve of Step Three.
An Idea Whose Time Has Come
When an anonymous OA member started working Step Two and needed to contain his skepticism with some logic, he found a bedrock of truth in the ideas he had accepted in Step One. “If I practice honesty, the Principle of Step One, then I cannot wiggle out of these truths.”
Interview with Kaitlin: Sugar Addiction, Bulimia, and Anorexia as a Teen
Kaitlin’s sugar addiction started in middle school after her parents’ divorce caused a number of stresses in her life. She later discovered bulimia and started overexercising, using laxatives, and vomiting. Today she has a new life that she once thought was impossible.
Interview with Charles: Exercise Bulimia and Compulsive Overeating
ane. That’s the word Charles uses to describe his relationship with food before OA. He went to his first OA meeting only to support a friend, but he did not recognize his own problem. Years later, when he could no longer control his weight, a growing sense of hopelessness made Charles ready to hear OA’s message.
Interview with Joe: Compulsive Eater
A preacher’s son, Joe’s compulsive eating was born when he became an adult and renounced the religion of his upbringing. From then on, Joe says he was “running too the food or away from the food.” At Joe’s first OA meeting, he felt hope seeing that others had overcome their food obsessions.
Interview with Bob: Overeater and Overexerciser
Bob was already in shape and at a healthy weight but learned in OA that his exercise habits masked a food addiction. He describes how OA gave him a safe place to find recovery and build a productive life.
Interview with Bob: Compulsive Overeater
Food was Bob’s sole obsession. He was selfish with food, and his unapologetic overeating even drove away friends. As an agnostic, he was uncomfortable hearing talk about God at his first meeting, but he stuck around, and now his life is changed completely and for the better.
Being Human
“It took a long time before I believed I am equal to others, says one OA member. “I think one of the reasons this happeend is because I heard the Twelfth Tradition over and over at meetings.”