When we recently retired from the suburbs of Hartford, Connecticut to a small rural mountain town tucked in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia, I never doubted we’d made the right choice. However, at first, I did miss my weekly Overeaters Anonymous (OA) meetings. At my disposal, I could choose just about any day or time of day to attend an OA meeting, when I lived outside of West Palm Beach, Florida, and then in Hartford County, Connecticut.
Then, much to my delight, I discovered the beauty of online 12-step meetings. Take Overeaters Anonymous. Thanks to the Recovery Group website at www.therecoverygroup.org, I can connect every three hours, 24 hours a day, with other OAers, worldwide. Here I share my “experiences, strengths, and hopes” (ESH), with other recovering overeaters, as we encourage one another to “keep coming back” (KCB). I have not been part of their group for long, but feel I know these online OA friends, as if I’d met them in person. What’s more, I can take part in them right in the comfort of my own home. Year around, ’round the clock, beginning at 12 midnight, you can catch a meeting every three years, day or night. Each week features a different step of the 12 Steps. Volunteers head up the meetings and OAers take turns sharing by simply pressing the *(star) key on their keyboards.
How can you find a meeting? Just go to www.therecoverygroup.org, and click on the white “doorway” to select a meeting. Support can also be found at http://www.oa.org/group_support.html where you’ll find valuable online resources to start and continue in your recovery.
Maybe our little town will someday have a “face-to-face” meeting, but for now, my online OA meetings are a lifesaver. But, just remember that online meetings are not to take the place of face-to-face meetings, if you’re blessed to have one in your area. You can find out if there is one near you by going to the Overeaters Anonymous web site at http://www.oa.org/index.htm and entering your zip code. If you do have meetings near you, the online meetins will add to your recovery. Actually, the online and “face-to-face” meetings should work together. They both have their purposes.
Other online12-step meetings for various additions are also found at the Recovery Group web site, such as AA, Alanon, NA, etc.. Or, if you’d rather talk than type, and need an online Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting, you can join a variety or rooms, several times each day on the PalTalk Messenger. Join the world’s largest live chat community where you can actually talk live with other alcoholics, worldwide, as they meet at various hours. All you need is a microphone for your computer, and you are set to go.
OAers have been helped just by attending AA meetings, as the steps are the same although the addictions differ. I’ve found just listening to recovering alcoholics share their experiences, strengths and hopes with one another has given me encouragement in my food addiction. Although I am not an alcoholic, I feel a kinship with them for we both work the same twelve steps in our recoveries. You can “raise your hand” to talk in Paltalk, just as you’d raise your hand at a regular face-to-face meeting, by simply hitting the control key on your computer keyboard. The Paltalk meetings are both structured and informal. Just go to www. paltalk.com where you can download this free software and set up a free Paltalk account.
