This Thursday, many of us will celebrate a national holiday. We will be inundated with images of people indulging in large of amounts of food. For compulsive eaters, these images may invoke fantastical memories of the “sense of ease and comfort” which our disease remembers once came from that first compulsive bite. Of course, we also know that this is an elusive and extremely short-lived sensation, quickly followed by guilt, shame and remorse.
Thank heavens we have the solution of the 12 Steps and a power greater than ourselves to grant us the ability to enjoy the holiday – or this Thursday – without slowly killing ourselves with food and eating behaviors from our past.
One way to support our recovery is to remember that although this Thursday is called “Thanksgiving,” another term for it might be a “Day of Gratitude.” My family used to follow the corny tradition of going around the table and naming what we were grateful for. For myself, I start my list with how grateful I am for the good food at my table and the fact that I don’t have to eat too much of it. Then I add stuff like my family, my home and more.
It is hard to feel sorry for myself that I don’t have the ability to eat food I shouldn’t when I am listing how grateful I am for the life I have now that I don’t practice my disease.
What are you grateful for this week?
Lisa S. - Oregon Intergroup
Guest Blogger
Thank heavens we have the solution of the 12 Steps and a power greater than ourselves to grant us the ability to enjoy the holiday – or this Thursday – without slowly killing ourselves with food and eating behaviors from our past.
One way to support our recovery is to remember that although this Thursday is called “Thanksgiving,” another term for it might be a “Day of Gratitude.” My family used to follow the corny tradition of going around the table and naming what we were grateful for. For myself, I start my list with how grateful I am for the good food at my table and the fact that I don’t have to eat too much of it. Then I add stuff like my family, my home and more.
It is hard to feel sorry for myself that I don’t have the ability to eat food I shouldn’t when I am listing how grateful I am for the life I have now that I don’t practice my disease.
What are you grateful for this week?
Lisa S. - Oregon Intergroup
Guest Blogger