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
“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.”
Mindy shares how Overeaters Anonymous transformed her life through surrendering to her Higher Power, working the Twelve Steps, and embracing a supportive community, leading to profound physical, emotional, and spiritual growth.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of working OA’s Twelve Steps, Steven recounts his discovery of how meditation in Step Eleven helped him untangle his emotional wounds and his compulsive overeating.
At an OA retreat, Heather responded to the question “How do you carry the message in meetings, as sponsors, with fellows, and in your everyday life?” We are happy to publish her response in Lifeline.
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.”
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.”
After one year of abstinence, Elena is challenged by thoughts, emotions, and feelings that can no longer be numbed with food, and this is her opportunity to practice surrendering so many things to a higher power. “But I never found these more difficult than going the experience of letting go of busyness and being faced with boredom,” she says.
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.”
AJ joined OA when she became medically obese, which triggered worries about obesity-related illnesses in her family’s history. Today she is no longer obese, and with the help of other OA members, she is living in recovery from compulsive eating.