I Wish Someone Had Told Me…

Prozac vs Perfectionism

It took me almost two full years of suffering with severe anxiety to finally go on anti-depressant medication at the age of 23. And that was only after the continuous urgings of a good friend. But I never really accepted the fact that I really needed this medication…until now. Up until last year, I would still …Continue reading →

263

Jun

Compulsive Overeating vs Binge Eating Disorder

You’re never too old to learn something new…. In all my years around program, I never knew until recently (and only after doing my own research on the Internet) that there are two different labels used by mental health professionals to describe abnormal eating behaviors. Here they are: Compulsive Overeating. Those diagnosed as “compulsive overeaters” …Continue reading →

Jun

How I Became Abstinent (This Time)

For seven years (2002-2008), in addition to being a raging compulsive overeater, I was a raging workaholic and I stopped attending all OA meetings. Sometimes I tried to restrain my compulsion to overeat, but as the stress at work grew, so did my size. Not only did I eventually regain all of the 96 pounds I …Continue reading →

295

May

“Food Dreams” Are A Gift!

The first time I became abstinent, almost every night I had dreams about bingeing, and then I’d wake-up with a start, actually scared that I had broken my abstinence and had to start all over at day “0” (at the time I was counting days). It really bothered me whenever it happened, and I often …Continue reading →

Mar

This Is NOT A Moral Issue!

Contained within this category of ‘things-I-wish-I-had-been-told-when-I-first-came-into-program’ are items which WERE told to me, whether directly or indirectly, but that I didn’t “hear” until years later. Such is the case with this idea of morality. For whatever reason, my entire life was spent cowering beneath the shadow of the belief that I was a “bad” person because I could …Continue reading →

Mar

Bad Sponsors

I hate to write the following, but it is a fact of 12-Step life. Despite your best efforts, more likely than not, at some point in your recovery, one of your sponsors is bound to let you down. Or worse. Once again, you must never lose sight of the fact that sponsors are people in …Continue reading →

762

Mar

Stop “Measuring” Yourself!

One of the toughest things for food addicts to give-up is our impulse to measure ourselves, whether by getting on a scale, using a measuring tape, counting calories, monitoring our time at the gym, graphing our progress, projecting how long it will take us to lose a certain amount of weight, or marking the number …Continue reading →

Mar

Sponsors Are NOT Your Higher Power

One of the most difficult lessons for those new to 12 Step programs to learn is the fact that, sooner or later, their sponsors will let them down. Why? Two reasons: newcomers tend to put their sponsors on pedestals, and sponsors are only human. But rather than seeing this as a limitation, try to look at it as …Continue reading →

Mar

12 Step Meetings Talk About “God”

When I first came into OA, back in 1988, I was a “non-practicing Catholic.” I actually took pride in that title and felt justified in turning my back on a religion that, aside from the few times I felt caught-up in the choir music, did nothing for me. At my first meeting, I was not …Continue reading →

722

Mar

The Difference Between “Agnostic” & “Atheist”

Within the confines of 12-Step programs, an “agnostic” is someone who believes that you cannot prove the existence of God, and an “atheist” is someone who believes that you can prove that God does NOT exist. This is a subtle yet important difference that I could not understand until I heard it explained in this simple way. …Continue reading →

212

Mar

1 2 ›