My addicition

This week I have talked to my friend Jordan almost daily as she has been on my ass to exercise and trying to hold me accountable. She has been sending me articles about plateau busting, and encouraging me to "kill it on the treadmill". It helps that she is doing WW too. A lot of times she end the calls with "the plan works, if you work the plan". This just keeps going thru my head. The other day when I talked to her, I had to laugh and say how sometimes I feel like an alcoholic. Growing up with a mom who attended some AA (alcoholics anonymous) meetings they always ended the meetings with "keep coming back..it works..if you work it". They would assign new members a sponsor (a past alcoholic that has been sober for a long time now), and when you are feeling the craving to drink...call your sponsor. Well, Jordan is my sponsor. I call her, she calls me to make sure I haven't went back to my old ways of feeding my addiction to food. The other night she texted me the serenity prayer (another thing they do in AA), however it works for many things. It goes like this: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference."

Through all the jokes and parallels of the two, I started to think about how overeating really is an addiction. The bad thing about it though is how it differs from a lot of other addictions. You don't have to drink, smoke, gamble, watch pornography, do drugs or play video games to live...but you do have to eat. With AA you give up alcohol entirely, not even one sip, they do not promote moderation but with overeating you just can't do that or you would die. I think it is hard because for those of us that do struggle, you have to be able to find that balance. I want to do a 180 and get addicted to things that are good for me like eating fresh, exercise, etc. I believe that we all have our addictions. What is yours? Is it negatively impacting your life? If so, think about the steps to giving it up.

Alcoholics follow a 12 step program to recovery but it would work for almost any addiction.
In summary you are to:
-Admit that one cannot control one's addiction or compulsion;
-Recognize a greater power that can give strength;
-Exame past errors with the help of a sponsor (experienced member);
-Make amends for these errors;
-Learn to live a new life with a new code of behavior;
-Help others that suffer from the same addictions or compulsions.

My goal for the future is to help others that suffer with the same addiction as I do. I have several friends that are overweight and wanting to lose. While I am still in recovery myself, I'd be happy to be your sponsor! We can do it together. I want to pay it forward.