From the 2020 Spring Issue of Freedom From Bondage Print/PDF Newsletter
60 years of OA. I feel blessed to have had OA in my life for nearly the last 2 years. I am so thankful that it has survived this long, to help me and other newcomers continue to recover from compulsive eating. After all, if we were all cured, there would be no OA to help future sufferers!
It’s times like this where it’s interesting to look back and see what happened to make us last this long. What did we do right to get us here, 60 years later?
The Tools of Recovery have been essential. Through sponsorship and service, we give back what was freely given to us, and by giving back, we encourage those we help to help other compulsive eaters. Meetings, in any form, keep us from isolating, keep us in the solution, and build fellowship among us; this fellowship keeps OA going. The telephone, which can be expanded to include video calls, keeps us connected even when we physically can’t be, and it gives us a way to have fellowship or a meeting without having to find an in-person meeting, especially in tight spots when you need a meeting right now. OA literature, published by everything from small individual groups to the WSO, reminds us of our common solution, regardless of where and when we are; this literature can be carried around with us in print or on a phone, giving us access to recovery wherever we are.
The most important tool, though, is anonymity. OA would not have lasted 60 years without this. It allows us to know that we can speak our truth rooms. It is only with this freedom to share ourselves that we can recover. This freedom allows us to see how similar we are to others in OA, allowing us to no longer feel alone. Knowing that our program is kept anonymous helps us open up because we know that our reputations will be protected outside the rooms.
Meetings above the group level are also important. Small groups have business meetings where events can be discussed, group consciences can be held, and more, Intergroups and regions have meetings and assemblies to discuss bylaws, events, resources, etc. The WSO has conferences where the same things happen, but on a world wide scale. This global unity throughout OA keeps us going because it reminds us that we are part of a worldwide fellowship. We receive resources from our intergroup, region, and the WSO to help us when we struggle financially, when we desire to do a workshop and need help planning it, when we want to print or publish things, and so on.
This unity within OA is also a closely guarded tradition; our recovery depends on OA unity. This unity allows us to be a part of OA as a whole while maintaining that individual groups are autonomous. We follow our Higher Power’s will, not our own desires and wishes. We are inclusive, accepting anyone who wants to recover, regardless of how we are different. We have a singular goal, to help other compulsive eaters. We remain unbiased, self-supporting, non-professional, we do not give opinions on outside issues. We use attraction rather than promotion.
All of these things, the tools & traditions, have brought us to where we are today, but we can’t forget the steps. It is the 12 steps, as adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous, that have allowed us to recover. Without recovery, none of us would be here, and the fellowship never would have lasted this long. It’s times like this where I wonder what my life would be like if the Big Book had never been written, and I wonder how addicts like me lived before the Big Book existed. I am truly blessed to be alive when and where I am, with OA and my fellows to support me.
I hope to keep passing it on, so that 60 years from now, someone like me will have the help they need to be freed from food obsession.
— Christina H.