I must . . . practice acceptance, no matter how uncomfortable that may feel. I am currently having difficulty practicing “principles before personalities” (Tradition Twelve). We have a challenging OA member at one of my meetings. Her attendance is erratic, but when she is there, the meeting immediately takes on an “uptight and on-alert” vibe, … Continued
Elaine from New Zealand reflects on Lifeline and the amazing changes OA has brought to her life. “The OA program works. . . . Though I have wanted to leave many times, I have stayed and begun to see the transformation of my outlook on life.”
The sexual abuse that Blanca suffered as a child led her to gain weight in an attempt to make herself less attractive, and led later to multiple suicide attempts. Thankfully, her desperate attempts to outrun her pain were soothed and solved in Overeaters Anonymous. “My practice of the Twelve Steps leaves me with some very empowering ways of seeing life,” she says. “My smiles . . . . are coming from a place of inner peace, confidence, and happiness.
“For decades, I tried every diet plan, no matter how crazy.” says Denise M. from New York USA. When she started gaining weight after bariatric surgery, “Something in me snapped! ‘No! I was not going to be one of those statistics,” she thought. She tried OA and found Neurodiverse/neurodivergent specific-focus meetings. And 90 days of abstinence. “I found my tribe,” she says.
Martine from Texas USA used to binge eat on the way home from work, stopping at multiple fast food drive-thrus. “But tonight . . .,” she says, ”I thanked my Higher Power . . . and the OA program for giving me the freedom . . . to look back on my day of healthy and abstinent eating.”
Sepidah, an OA member from Iran, came into the program feeling physically, mentally, and spiritually bankrupt. “I could barely bear the weight of my soul,” she says. Through OA and working the Twelve Steps, however, she has found a workable solution. “I am calm,” she says. “I sleep more peacefully . . . and I have better balance in working the Steps.”
Abused from age 6, Linda started eating compulsively at an early age. As a young adult, she was unable to grasp the nature of her problem with food. When health problems mounted, and she was unable to cope, “I threw in the towel,” she says, “by overeating.” And that’s when the message of OA started making sense.
Laura from Connecticut USA originally thought that coming to an OA meeting was the same as taking the First Step. But for eight years, she never found a lasting abstinence. It wasn’t until she faced the prospect of an early death from obesity that she came to understand what it truly means to work Step One.
As I continue to work the Steps and continue to attend meetings, I’ve been delivered more hope and faith in the power of this program . . . I came into Overeaters Anonymous nearly a year ago, distraught and caught in a relentless cycle of bingeing and at other times bingeing and purging. I was … Continued
OA member A.K. from Wyoming USA was consumed by the demons of her addiction to food. “I withdrew from my friends and family, too embarrassed to face them in my current state,” she says. When she followed her therapist’s suggestion to try OA, she experienced, “a profound emotional and spiritual shift” in addition to “shedding physical weight.”