It has been almost 9 years (and 90 pounds ago) since I returned to OA – and what a journey it has been! I never could have imagined that finding a sponsor – and being a sponsor – would be the gift beyond measure!

Upon re-entering the rooms of Overeaters Anonymous, I initially struggled to find someone to be my sponsor. I had been in OA before – way back in 1991. It was a time in Silicon Valley when there were LOTS of meetings with LOTS of recovery. The very first person I asked to be my sponsor had said, “Yes” and we immediately started working the steps. I found the gift of abstinence quickly – and surprisingly easily given I was in total surrender – and the 70 excess pounds practically fell off my body when I gave up sugar and flour. But that was when I was much younger and far less stubborn about wanting to hold onto “control.”.

Fool that I was, I left OA before celebrating my 10th abstinence birthday. I managed to stay away from the sugar for a stretch, but then everything started to creep back in. Shortly, I was back to binging, eating sugary, doughy foods, and LOTS of processed junk – which had always led me into misery. As they say in Twelve Step rooms, all I had to lose by working a recovery program was my misery. Well, when I stopped working my program, I had my misery refunded!

Sadly, I swiftly packed those 70 pounds back on – and then added some more for good measure! I tried and tried, many times, to go back to OA after I had relapsed, but I would always quit too soon. By the time 2017 hit, I was as desperate as the dying can be, and willing to go to any length! I hit a hard bottom! I absolutely KNEW that I needed OA, something FIERCE!! 

When I came back into the rooms, finding a sponsor proved far more challenging than it had been back in the early 1990s. I had to spend nearly 2 solid weeks – going from OA meeting to OA meeting – to find a sponsor. 

In 2017, unlike today, the only option was “in-person” meetings (it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that online meetings became a thing). So, being in dire need, I set out on a mission – a mission to find a sponsor who could take me back through the Twelve Steps – and back to sanity! 

While this may not be the case for others, it took asking 7 people before I found an available sponsor who I now very much cherish. Although she was not my first choice, she was the perfect sponsor for this crazy compulsive eater because she was willing, able, and eager to take me through the Big Book and through the steps!

She happily took me through the OA steps with patience, love, and tolerance. And by earnestly working those Twelve Steps with my sponsor, the Twelve Steps worked on me!

The result of working with an available and eager sponsor (who had her own sponsor to help guide her) was that I surrendered, fully, to a great BIG Higher Power! This was a God of my own choosing, who, just like Step 2 and Step 3 stated, restored me to sanity when I made the decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of that Higher Power. 

And with that complete surrender (and total release of control), I was gifted with abstinence from sugar, flour, caffeine, carbonated drinks, and processed foods. Yes, I had a LOT more to “abstain from” upon my return to OA. As our OA 12×12 reminds us, this is a debilitating, progressive, and ultimately, fatal disease! It only gets worse, never better!

Working the OA Steps with a sponsor allowed me to release – and to keep off – more than 90 pounds, and to experience food neutrality. Thank you, OA!

I can’t imagine what might have happened if I had not walked back into the rooms. Or, if I had simply given up after asking those first few people to sponsor me (who said they either weren’t sponsoring, or weren’t taking on any new sponsees). And if I had stopped hunting for a sponsor to take me through the steps, where might I be today?

Honestly, had I NOT followed through with finding a sponsor, I strongly suspect it would NOT have gone well, given how much my physical and mental health was suffering from my sugar obsession and compulsive eating. I was morbidly obese, taking numerous prescription medications, and afflicted with a laundry list of illnesses and chronic diseases – all of which no longer plague me, thanks to OA!

I’m truly grateful that I never have to know what might have happened if I had given up looking for a sponsor! Today, not only do I have a sponsor, but I am a sponsor. And that means I am accountable to 4 wonderful people who are honestly, openmindedly, and willingly working the Twelve Steps – this is the “H.O.W.” of recovery. 

My sponsees often tell me they appreciate my support, respect my commitment to the OA program, and value the time I spend with them. And I hugely value their trust in me and their eagerness to learn how our Twelve Steps work! Doing service as a sponsor really feels good and ensures I stay connected to my Higher Power and to my own sponsor. Sponsoring helps me stay grounded, centered, and focused on my own recovery because the spiritual energy of recovery flows both ways! As I help a sponsee, it fuels my own recovery by keeping me in the literature, and keeping me seeking my Higher Power for strength, wisdom, guidance and courage. 

I certainly cannot lead by example if I’m not doing the things I ask of my sponsees. And the things I ask of them, are the very same things that my sponsor asked of me – to work the steps with all the earnestness at my command, holding nothing back, and going to any length for my recovery! 

When I get stuck or have some personal struggles, I call my own sponsor and we reason things out together. Or, she may ask me to turn to my Higher Power in prayer or meditation for wisdom and guidance. No matter what, we know there is a solution if we only seek the God of our understanding and let go of the outcome.

If ever I’m discouraged by life’s ups and downs, my sponsor lovingly reminds me of what it used to be like, how far I’ve come, and not to quit 5 minutes before the miracle! And if she needs my support because she is going through something, I can be there for her just as she has been for me. Life happens. And OA’s program of recovery has served in situations that I never could have imagined – or navigated alone – without support from my sponsor, my friends in recovery, and my Higher Power!

This program is AMAZING! We are like mirrors and windows for each other! We can see what works and what doesn’t. We can confide in our sponsor, and we can trust that our sponsor understands what we’re going through because she’s likely been exactly where we’ve been! This disease is our common malady. And the Twelve Steps are our common solution!

Having a sponsor and being a sponsor are gifts that never stop giving! So long as I keep coming back, I get to enjoy a pretty phenomenal life without needing to turn to food for comfort, to fix, to hide, to stuff feelings, or to escape stress or boredom. My sponsor never lets me forget that I get a daily reprieve, contingent upon the maintenance of my spiritual condition. And that nothing helps grow my spiritual condition more than being of love and service to others as a sponsor! 

Sponsorship is something we do as a service to others who are still suffering with our disease of compulsive eating. But it is a gift beyond measure to each and every one of us who is willing to serve as a sponsor!

– A Gratefully Recovered Sugar Addict and Compulsive Overeater