When our job is stressful (or even when it isn’t), an announcement of snacks in the break room can create a moment of weakness. When it happened to Linda, she reached for two Tools, literature and the telephone, to keep her abstinence.
Ten years into her program, Diane from Washington, D.C. USA found a Power greater than herself. When she started writing her Higher Power, she found the response was “exactly what I needed to hear.”
“Without a sponsor,” says one OA member, “I would be unable to continue to recover.” But this OA member’s journey has meant working with many sponsors, and she has learned something from each one along the way.
“In our area, we are struggling to attract and retain new members,” says Heather from New Zealand. “I have been mentored over the years . . . to share the solution. This writing is the service I can do today.” Read how Heather works her program daily.
Sam grew up in a time of war, when food scarcity was a real issue. When the war ended, Sam’s scarcity mentality and trauma did not . . . until he heard about OA. “It changed my life forever,” he says.
Isa experienced food addiction and body image issues from early childhood. “I would have done anything to be thin,” she says. After topping 242 pounds (110 kg), she joined OA and knew right away she was in the right place.
An anonymous OA member writes in with simple ideas for Twelfth Step Within Day on December 12. “What support and encouragement can you offer a member who is struggling in program?”
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.”
Stephanie, an abstinent compulsive overeater, and Nancy, a gratefully recovering and abstinent compulsive eater, host this workshop on OA’s Fourth Step: “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”
Tina, recovering compulsive overeater, and Ronnie, a compulsive overeater, host this workshop on OA’s First Step: “We admitted we were powerless over food; that our lives had become unmanageable.”