For Today: October 25th

Better hazard once than always life in fear.

Thomas Fuller

My fears are just below the surface.  I am not aware that much of my fear is of looking ridiculous or finding out I’m not too bright or that I’m narrow and small-minded underneath my civilized veneer.

But it’s better to jump in and examine my fears than to let them haunt me the rest of my life.  I take a fourth-step inventory, skimming the surface at first, then digging deeper. The more honest I am, the more freely I breathe.  This is what I feared?  I want to shout to the world:  Don’t be afraid!

For Today:  I am not afraid to take the next step.  Everyone I know who took the fourth and fifth steps lived to tell about it.

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Taking a 4th step inventory is not fun...........nor is it as frightening as most would think it to be.  God already KNOWS ,my faults...........it is me who has to identify them so they can be changed. Living in denial about myself for such a long time has a tendency to keep the character flaws buried alive.

Taking a 4th step inventory is cleansing...........it is a pro-active step toward recovery and something I need to work on ALL the time; not just once & I'm done.

Once I identify my defects, I no longer have to live in fear of them.  I can rid myself, with God's help, of all the behaviors & actions that led me to compulsive overeating.  OA is a plan that works on so many levels, and for that I am grateful.

The 12 Steps are a road map to a better life; a better ME, a blueprint to recovery, one day at a time.