For Today: February 19th

Back of tranquility lies conquered unhappiness.

David Grayson

“Be optimistic……look on the bright side.”  I have often tried to follow that advice, but it seldom brought solutions to my problems.  It is difficult to get in touch with feelings, hold them up and examine them in the light of sobriety and abstinence.  But what a difference it makes!  The great phantoms of misery vanish under such scrutiny, not because I’ve given them a coating of optimism, but because I worked my way through to the source of my unhappiness.

I know that I cannot do it alone.  I need this program, my fellow OA members and my Higher Power with me every step of the way.  Only with that help am I able to deal with my difficulties and turn over what I cannot handle.  Serenity is letting go and letting God.

For Today:  Am I taking advantage of all the help OA offers in trying to get at the root of my unhappiness?  Many choices are open to me:  I can ask someone to sponsor me, go to a meeting, write an inventory or takes steps five through nine.

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When I use the tools of my program and remain abstinent & work the steps, I find recovery from my compulsion to overeat.

I can't do it alone, nor do I want to.  I surrender my life to my Higher Power, one day at a time.

I can choose happiness or misery for myself...........I can be grateful for all the blessings I have, or, I can feel self-pity & disappointment with what I do not have.

I choose to face my stuff instead of stuff my face.

And, by the grace of God, I choose to stay in recovery for today.  Yesterday is gone & tomorrow isn't here yet. 

There are two days in every week which we have no control over----yesterday and tomorrow. today is the only day we can change.

For today, I will work my program to the best of my ability.

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And so ends the 1 year commitment I made on February 20^th, 2011, to type out and comment on one full year’s worth of readings from the OA book, For Today.  I have shared with you 365 readings…….all intended to speak the truth about the illness of compulsive overeating and to find solutions to achieving a better state of being.

I’ve had many followers over the past year; people who read this blog daily & hopefully, gained some insight & knowledge into the disease.  My comments were intended to give you my experience with compulsive overeating & my resulting recovery.  I hope that my comments were useful.  If I’ve managed to be of help  to one single solitary reader, then I’ve been successful with my endeavor in writing this blog.

Over the past year, I’ve had 2,443 views of this blog, with readers from  the United States, Russia, Thailand, Germany, Brazil, Poland, Malaysia, United Kingdom, China, Ukraine, South Korea,  Hong Kong, Latvia, India, Brazil, Chile, Taiwan & Canada.  Addiction knows no nationality………no financial status, no title and no gender, age or race.  Addiction only takes prisoners, leaving chaos & misery in its wake.  Whether we are addicted to food, alcohol, drugs, or gambling, we are one in the same person.  We suffer the ravages of the disease from which there appears to be no end.

I hope that, through the writings of Overeater’s Anonymous, you have found some level of strength to continue your journey.  Another reason to get up & do it again.  Amen. Do it again.  While the addictions never cured, they can be managed successfully, one day at a time.

Please join me in my new blog, where I will be posting daily readings from another wonderful OA source of inspiration, Recovery Meditations.  These readings are written by recovering compulsive overeaters and contain an awful lot of wisdom & truth, from people just like YOU, who are taking the journey to recovery through maintaining an abstinent lifestyle.

Cheers & a great big THANK YOU to all who have supported me by reading these daily blogs!