I decided to pick up an extra FA meeting because I was feeling out of sorts and down on myself for not being productive the previous day. I hadn’t reached out and shared this with anyone. Instead, I had isolated and avoided life. So, I committed to myself that I would go to a meeting the next morning, which was Sunday. I woke up the next morning and completely forgot my commitment. I had forgotten it was even Sunday! I went through my routine, took my calls, and had a leisurely breakfast. When I remembered at 8:45, I debated about whether to go. I would need to be out of the house by 9 to get there on time, and I decided to try. I managed to get myself ready and was out of the house by 9:05. The snow started at 9:15. I don’t know that I would have... Continue Reading
Since I came into Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous, in September 2011, I have had an abundance of firsts: My first meeting was my first experience with the 12 steps; although, it was not a match made in heaven. However, it was also the first time a fellow helped me see the truth: At the break, a gentleman who was sitting next to me showed me his picture. Here was this skinny guy showing me a picture of an overweight man which could very well have been me. That night my Higher Power helped me experience the first time I made an FA commitment. I made a commitment to call another FA fellow, who “cornered” me at the literature table during the break (more later). That night was also the first time I complained about FA. After the meeting ended, I got into my car and immediately called my sister... Continue Reading
I was heading to an FA meeting one morning on a call to a fellow member telling her how I had come into FA. When I finished, I realized I had a story to tell. It was May 2014; I had just had surgery that left me unable to put my foot on the floor for 4 weeks. I was housebound; all I did was eat and sit, day in, day out. I could not cook or clean for my family, which at first I did not have a problem with, but as the weeks went on I started to feel pretty useless. I ate with a vengeance and ended up gaining 10 pounds. Every issue that could possibly plague my mind came to me as I progressed in my sedentary lifestyle. One of them was the wedding of a dear friend coming up in August. To say I was... Continue Reading
When I first found FA two months after moving from Italy to London, life became easier for me. With FA I found structure, support, and a family. I discovered a group of people who understood exactly my disease and the way my brain worked, especially around food. Before I found FA, I had spent the first two months in London in a miserable state, slowly realizing that my “geographical cure” was not working. I had been drowning in fear, loneliness, isolation and, of course, food. I still remember the first time I heard someone qualify in that little church room in central London. I wanted to cry. I finally understood my behavior of so many years: I had a disease. Now I realized that I had a solution, and I wasn’t alone anymore. One of the biggest, fastest, miracles I experienced in the program was being able to sleep through... Continue Reading
I was living in Australia, abstinent in FA for six months and had started attending my first live AWOL (A Way of Life, a closed study of the Twelve Steps) when I travelled to Brazil with my husband to visit family. I had taken my sponsor’s suggestion and planned the trip for just ten days so that I would not miss two sessions in a row and as the AWOL was going to close the day after I was due back from the trip. Arriving at the airport in Brazil on the day of my return, I realized I had the departure time wrong. My flight was taking off in 20 minutes! The gate had already closed and there was nothing they could do: I had missed my flight. It was bad enough that I would have to buy another ticket, but worse than that, there was no flight available... Continue Reading
