2025 Mental Health In Recovery

[00:00:03] Speaker A: Hello. [00:00:05] Speaker B: That works for you. Okay, good. Is this on? [00:00:20] Speaker A: Don't touch anything. Okay. Hi, good evening. My name is Annie and I am a compulsive and recovering addict. And many, many things it says here. Let's begin with the serenity prayer. How loud the mic makes me nervous. Okay, moment of silence for those still sick and cuffing in and out of the room by discerning prayer. God grant me the serenity to accept that things cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the [00:01:10] Speaker C: wisdom to know the difference. [00:01:12] Speaker A: Thanks. The topic of this one hour workshop is mental health challenges and recovery. I said I'm Annie and I am seated with my co leader, Laura. Laura. And I guess I have 20 minutes to speak and then we'll open the room for shares on the topic. Up to, I guess three minutes. This session is being recorded. The workshop will end, I believe at 6 o'. [00:01:48] Speaker D: Clock. [00:01:49] Speaker A: For the rest of the time. [00:01:52] Speaker B: Oh, this workshop will end at 6 o'. [00:01:55] Speaker A: Clock. For the rest of the time, we will hear three minute pitches from the floor. The timer signal you when you have one minute left. If you'd like to share, please align at the front of the room. We remind you that the session is being recorded and your sharing demonstrates your consent to be recorded. If you wish to remain anonymous, please use a fictitious name or choose not to share. Please say where you are from, how long you've been in oa, but devote your share to your OA experience, strength and hope on the topic of this workshop. Okay, this meeting. All right, so. Hi. So we're little, we've got a little bunch of people. Do you guys want to move closer or do you feel safe in the spaces that you are? Just, you know, this is, it's a really intimate topic and I gotta say it's very brave that we're all here in this specific room at 5 o'. [00:03:00] Speaker B: Clock. [00:03:00] Speaker A: There's such a stigma still attached to mental health issues, whether you're in the program or out of the program. You tell you that I spent majority of my adolescent life forward dealing with some form of a mental illness that was outside the scope of a 12 step program. Being able to help me and I had a. I guess I shared a body image meeting recently. This is the first time that I actually talked about the mental illness aspect of my person. And because I try to hide it still. I'm 58, I have depression, you know, I have PTSD. I have, you know, I have other issues that OA can't help me with and I do the Right thing. And I go and I get my help on the outside. Figuring out that we need the help sometimes is difficult. When I think of being mentally ill and being in recovery, the biggest challenge for me has been the balance. I think that sometimes my symptoms are. They need much more attention than, say, my food plan. So I put all my focus over here. And then, you know, my OA stuff starts to get messy. For me, the goal in all of my recovery, because I belong to other programs, is the balance piece. And that can be difficult. And, you know, I also think that another challenge in, in recovery and in a way with mental health is what if you're symptomatic and you need to speak to someone and you're afraid to call someone? Because this, and this is my own experience, you're afraid to call someone because you are symptomatic and you just want someone to listen. Like what you have going on in your head. You don't think the person on the other end of the phone deserves to hear it. It's not equipped. And so what do you do? What do you do in that? What I've done, You see, I think there's. There's layers of recovery, and it's like an onion, and I heard someone call it, you can do like oa light of it, where you sort of just be 1 in 12 and hang out and you're abstinent, but you're not really, you know, really doing the work. And then, you know, it goes deeper and deeper and deeper. And, you know, however any. Thank you. However anyone's program is, that's their program. That's how they run it. Truly, it's none of my business. But as I got connected, I'm also a Zoom baby in oa. I came into OA during the pandemic after a long time friend in the beverage program suggested you needed to be here and I didn't want to be here. What do you mean, food? I went through that whole thing. I listened to the women and the men in all these Zoom meetings. If you listen, you can tell who had work. You can tell by their shares, by their depth, by their honesty, that they've done work that is outside of the realm of OA and the 12 steps. And, you know, not just because, you know, it's an outside issue. It won't be in this meeting today of two people that I reached out to and I told them, I said, look, this is what happens to me. And I, you know, I can't call Joanna bagged donuts over here. And be sobbing and, you know, she has no idea what's going on. And to me that she would be a safe space for me, that if I needed to call that I would, I could just say, hey, it's one of those days. And I would be able to share with her and we would share recovery. So it wasn't necessarily that we got all into the depression or whatever that issue was, but we really focused for the challenges solution, focused what's going to get me out of it, because time. Even though I feel that I have a connection to my higher power, which I call the committee, by the way. So I decided with my higher power when I came into OA that I needed a new one because the old higher power I had was very shaming. So I decided that I wanted a higher power that was going to love me through this. And I also made a decision that I was going to stop talking awful to myself and talking awful to myself. Keep me sick. Negative things about me keep me sick in my OA addiction and in my mental health stuff. Realized that I never changed one behavior ever by talking horrible to myself. You know, negative reinforcement doesn't work for me. And so my recovery is different and it's better because there's love it. Somewhere along the line I realized that [00:10:47] Speaker E: I [00:10:49] Speaker A: loved myself enough, or you could say I loved myself iota more that I didn't love myself. And I made that decision. And my growth has been exponential. So my support team network involves a sponsor and my sponsor has a sponsor, her sponsor has a sponsor, so on and so on. I am working the steps. I am doing a body image step study at Westchester United Intergroup this past Tuesday. Oh, by the way, I'm from Westchester Inner group, but I recently moved to Red Creek down the road. So I'm looking for friends up here. So the challenges. So I got diagnosed with myasthenia scratus about a year ago. And I have all this cognitive normal to me. So if you see me like, you know, do the lower back, move to the side. It's me just trying to rebalance myself. And that's been almost as bad as the mental illness piece, I think, because I don't want to be out in public. But what I didn't talk about, which is the most important thing about the challenges, is that every challenge with mental illness in OA can be met. And it's met with hope, it's met with love, it's met with support. And you know, I'm sure you guys have read the big book and one of My favorite lines out of it is from How it works. So chapter five, page 58. Rarely have we seen a person fail who has followed our path. So if we're here and we're working on our recovery, and we're working on our depression or whatever the illness may be, with a support network in place, you know, we've got it made. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to the simple program. Usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. They're such unfortunates, they're not at fault. They seem to have been born that way. They're naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders. [00:14:22] Speaker B: That is me. [00:14:28] Speaker A: But many of them do recover. They have the capacity to be honest in our recovery. We have to be honest in our mental health support, whatever that may be. Whether I'll talk about medication, you know, obviously this is my opinion, my experience, strength and hope. It's not gospel. It's not counting. It's just me and how I live my recovery. I see a psychiatrist. Psychiatrist knows that I'm an addict. Psychiatrist knows that I'm connected in my program. And I make sure that the psychiatrist knows or has contact with my therapist. I see a therapist as well. And, you know, and then I have my sponsor, you know, and I have my OA support group, and then I have those two women that I can reach out to if I'm not able to get a professional. And being honest can do it. It tells us. It tells us in the book, if we have the capacity. So it tells us that we can recover. Five minutes left, saying, don't have to let either one feed us. You know, I think my disease [00:16:08] Speaker B: comes [00:16:08] Speaker A: in many forms, and food is the latest. It wants me dead. Alcoholism wants me dead. Not to bring another program into it, but my disease wants me dead. I believe my mental illness also doesn't want me to be. I have to like again. I keep saying it's all about the balance and being good to yourself. You know, there's just like whole self care movement happening, which I love. I think it's great we can work an OA program and a mental health program. Like I said, be kind and gentle to ourselves. You know, if we want to be, you know, happy, joyous and great. Uh, oh, minutes are counting down. I can't believe I talked this long. I didn't think I had anything to say. It's okay, this meeting is a safe space today. One of the other challenges is not to make OA therapy. Try not to. And I've been guilty of it. Hijack a meeting with an issue. I almost feel like sometimes when they say, please stay positive and stick to the topic, because I have a feeling a whole bunch of people over the years have gone off the rails when they've been sharing. And I used to get upset at that and be like, but they need to share. And then someone pulled me aside and said, well, sometimes some of that stuff does not need to be shared in the meeting. That's why you have a sponsor. That's why you have a support group. I can tell you that I've been in OA for five years. I am 16 months at CMS. Okay. Yeah. And really struggling with a lot of physical stuff, a lot of cognitive stuff. But I'm not giving up. And even have the day that I had on Wednesday that I didn't make it out of bed. But I did go to a meeting. I did call my sponsor. That was the best that I could do for that day. And I was abstinent. And it was a successful day. Anybody that's in this room right now that when we started, so brave, very brave to be here. You know, it's hard. It's hard having other stuff. The other stuff. I'll end that. I used to call it the horror. That's what I used to call it. Because that's what it felt like, all the stuff. So the stuff is getting worked out. And it's only because of my higher power away, my fellows, my outside support network, and all of you. And I have to say, the biggest honor to be able to share this, and we're out of time. That's all I have. Thank you so much. [00:20:11] Speaker C: Come on up to the microphone because [00:20:13] Speaker F: the recording is still going. [00:20:14] Speaker B: I'm Lynn and I'm glad. [00:20:18] Speaker A: I'm grateful that I'm in oa. [00:20:21] Speaker D: Hi, everybody. I've only been in OA for about seven months and I've also been a [00:20:32] Speaker E: member of the program. [00:20:33] Speaker D: And what I've learned is that even with the other programs, feelings and [00:20:44] Speaker B: you [00:20:44] Speaker D: know, but I know what it is to want to kill myself. [00:20:51] Speaker B: And [00:20:53] Speaker D: I have been in therapy and I've learned through programs and programs and people that loved me. When I was very sick, [00:21:08] Speaker B: I started [00:21:09] Speaker D: to get better and I did find a higher power. I do have ptsd. I had an experience today riding down the street. I was with the program person and I started to see two people Getting into a fight and I went to anxiety attack. [00:21:30] Speaker A: But I was able to bring myself out of it. [00:21:34] Speaker D: I know when I came into OA and I'm not a lot of people person. It's not that I don't like people because of where I've come from and I've been hurt. And when I came into OA and everybody was so nice and people were. I was overwhelmed. And that's getting better. And what I realized is I used alcohol, cigarettes and food to kill my feelings. And what's happening now for me is feeling didn't mean I felt. Feelings are coming up for me now in the different level and it's scary, but I know I'm going to get through it. And I know my higher power, whom I true child, God wants this to happen to me right now [00:22:42] Speaker A: and know [00:22:44] Speaker D: it's going to get better. But one thing I'm grateful for is that my compulsion has been removed. And I am grateful for that. And that's only a work of my higher power. And [00:23:01] Speaker A: anyway, I'm done. [00:23:03] Speaker B: Thank you, Kathy. I'm a successful overeater. I have depression and anxiety. I've had depression and anxiety probably since I was a Teenager. Been in LA for 29 years. I'm not yet cleanly abstinent when I feel like I don't get it. I don't believe that I haven't got clean abstinence yet because I'm unable to be honest with myself. I believe that depression and compulsible reading are biotic. And when I'm depressed, it's almost impossible to be abstinent. When I'm in the food, it triggers the depression and around and around and around and around. I've been going to groups that study the Big Book a lot this year and a person I was talking to the other day who's very active there and understands the Big Book very well, I've been exposed to the idea of the allergy of the body and I wasn't sure that was true for me. And she said to me, well, you don't want to believe it's true. It has nothing to do with whether I want to believe it or not. My experience doesn't necessarily bear it out. Now, I don't know whether this person knows anything about depression and talk to her about that, but I think that depression is one of the biggest triggers. Never mind the food itself. Depression is one of the biggest triggers for my reading. I was absent to a big buck study for like five months earlier this year. And then life got Very lifey. I had a whole lot of stuff going on. I got depressed again. Now I'm on medication for both the depression and anxiety. I have a sponsor who. I have a sponsor who I have a sponsor, etc. The biggest thing I fall back on and that I want to convey here today is it doesn't do me any good to commit to somebody else's length of abstinence. It any good to compare myself to this person who got abstinent at her first meeting and has been abstinent for 40 years. That hasn't happened. I still work at this. I work a hard program through the steps. I've let go of a lot of fear, a lot of anger, a lot of character defects working through the steps. But in 29 years, I haven't got peaceful abstinence yet. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. But I'm not going to compare myself to anybody else. I'm not going to let anybody tell me that the reason I can't get abstinence is because I'm honest about the allergy of the body. [00:25:58] Speaker F: Hi, my name is Laura. I am a recovering compulsive, overeater, undereater everybody. Thank you, Annie, for your share and thank you for everybody who's here. Thank you to our timer. [00:26:14] Speaker B: I'm from New York. [00:26:15] Speaker F: Can you tell? I live near Long Island. You know, it's interesting to think about these issues with mental health and OA because I love that part of the big book that you quoted about those with grave mental emotional disorders can get sober if they have the capacity to be honest. So I always love that part. I mean, mental illness runs in my family. There's a couple of people in my family with a major axis 1 diagnosis, and I was pretty close to that myself. Now I tend towards things like add. I've never been diagnosed, but I kind of know I have it and that's okay. It doesn't matter. I mean, this year or last year, whatever, it's been more depression, more anxiety. And, you know, I'm on a medicine that affects you like that as your estrogen goes down, you know, there's a tendency for this medicine to create these side effects. And now I'm like dealing with it. I'm just. It's not easy. You know, I come by it honestly in the family for sure, and I've taken homeopathic remedies in the past to treat it, and I don't need so much now to do that. But when the sun is starting to go down, I start getting that dread, like, oh, my God, here comes the darkness. But, you know, they say that nothing can grow in the darkness without the light. And also. So, in other words, the darkness is necessary. The light is necessary. There's just. Thank you. Has to be a balance. Like, was so eloquently already spoken about. And thank God I don't have to do this alone. I can talk to people about what I'm feeling. I can. I mean, I do work out a lot. That helps a lot. I'm very grateful for. I've got a support system in the gym. I mean, I thought I lost my phone, like, really lost my phone the night before I was supposed to come here. And once I got it back, I started bawling. [00:28:34] Speaker C: I was like, oh, my God. [00:28:35] Speaker F: Because I felt, like, so traumatic. My husband, like, what's the matter? You got your phone back. I'm like, but you don't understand. I felt like I was going to have to go through my whole building, apartment by apartment. Who got my phone? Did you see it? Ba. Ba. Six floors of people and the whole nine yards. I mean, believe me, I got a lot of trauma, but I won't. I know I'm almost at a time, but the point is, to me, the difference between OA and mental health is we have the 12 steps. Mental health has a therapist, and I've had it all. So I'm very grateful for it, too. Thanks for letting me share. [00:29:11] Speaker B: I'm Corinne. [00:29:11] Speaker G: I'm a compulsory eater. I'm from London, Ontario. I've been in OA since the beginning of COVID I, too, am a doom baby. And zoom tends to be the way that I practice my meetings just because of the way things go with my schedule. And it's nice to be in these particular conventions, et cetera, because then I get to people in real life, everyone in being, actually the present has suffered and mental illness most of my life. I institutionalized more for six months at one point in order to help get a handle on that. And I had one sponsor who did not understand how my abstinence is connected to my emotional sobriety. That particular sponsor, justice, had felt all I needed to do with the 12 steps. And the 12 steps are important, and I've done many of them and do them again and think about them, et cetera. But there's a little bit more than that. I did experience a whole entire year of abstinence. And as soon as I got my year, chip things. I've been abstinent off and on for the rest of my oa. [00:30:31] Speaker B: Career. [00:30:32] Speaker G: And my biggest struggle is being able to be positive with myself, learn to be positive about other situations. I've learned that when things are not going well, I try to find the positive in everything. And I'm a responsibility sponge also. I also have to know when not to respect, not to accept and realize. That responsibility sponge was connected to my lack of humility, which was one of the things that I learned much about OA and was so glad to understand exact is because I often used to make it mostly about me and I don't as much anymore. And I recognize what I do and then I make amends when that happens. I also sometimes get upset with, well, those persons. People shouldn't, you know, just talk about all of the things going bad and they're wrong in their life. And I think, well, that's their belief. By talking about it, they'll be able to get. And everybody has to have an avenue for that, to do that. But I'm glad I don't do that anymore because I've had to, really. But sometimes it does help to that fact, OA has provided me with a facility to practice the things that I have trouble practicing in a space where people will accept me and make mistakes. And I follow my faith. So once again, thank you so much for all you share. [00:31:49] Speaker C: I'm Ann Marie. I'm from Duluth, Minnesota. [00:31:53] Speaker F: Hi, Ann Marie. [00:31:56] Speaker C: I've been in OI for. I'm 75 years old, so that's all of my adult life. I've kept coming back. I'm abstinent today. And I'm saying I'm thrilled with the topic. [00:32:19] Speaker B: Thank you so much for the courage [00:32:22] Speaker C: of speaking and just suggesting this as an important topic. In a way, I've struggled my whole life keeping silent in meetings, even when we're told we're only as sick as our secrets. In my experience. And what I want to do, I want a special focus group because there's so many special focus groups nationally and international for people who were violently and sexually abused either in their childhood or their adulthood. That's my issue. That's what I spent my life recovering from. [00:33:07] Speaker B: It's not talked about. [00:33:09] Speaker C: It's not talked about around the table. And it's profoundly prolific in our society. And I don't use the word victim or survivor. I don't use the word mental illness anymore. For me, I'm not mentally ill. I'm on a journey of just being a well and whole human being. A therapist recently pastured introduced to me this concept. He said, don't Ask why the addiction? Ask why the pain? And I don't know anybody who comes to OA without some kind of pain. And this is one particular kind of pain. [00:34:02] Speaker B: And I feel. [00:34:04] Speaker C: I feel very called to try to get a special national OA ZOOM meeting. Great call for this. You know, I've never said these things in a meeting before. So I thank you so much for the opportunity to just come out of the closet about this. I've kept coming back for a long time and I'm very, very grateful for oa, so grateful. Grateful for all the people, my counselors, therapy, all the opportunities I've had in life to be more well. And all I know is that I will just keep coming back. And I just encourage anybody suffering. Speak about it. Tell somebody that you trust and do. [00:35:07] Speaker B: Hi, my name is Cheryl. I'm from Weymouth, Massachusetts. I've been in program now for 12 years. And unfortunately, I have suffered from mental health issues. At the age of 12, I tried to commit suicide because of my disease. That's how long back I've suffered it. And unfortunately, I have sought outside help since I was 12 years old. I've been in and out of therapy. And I do have a wonderful support system within OA who teach me that it's okay to go through these things. It's normal process. And I do use as many tools as I possibly can on a regular basis. But my generation, we believe in talking things out. Unfortunately, my parents don't like talking about mental health issues or sensitive subjects. [00:36:23] Speaker E: So [00:36:25] Speaker B: today it's nice to have that support system within oa. Having issues and not seminars, but yeah, seminars like these that we can share on a deeply personal level because it is a part of my history. [00:36:53] Speaker A: So wanted to share. [00:36:55] Speaker B: Thank you, guys. Hi, my name is Monica, Compulsive overeater. [00:37:03] Speaker F: Hi, Monica. [00:37:04] Speaker D: Hi. I was kind of shy in coming [00:37:07] Speaker A: here because you said this was being recorded. [00:37:08] Speaker B: I said, I know somebody will hear me and remember who I am. Yes, that's the story of my life. Always try to be something else, to [00:37:16] Speaker A: be bigger, better, you know, Step seven tells you humility. No one is above or below you. And that was ingrained in me when [00:37:27] Speaker B: I was a kid. [00:37:28] Speaker G: You're always better than other people. [00:37:29] Speaker D: Always better. [00:37:30] Speaker B: We have to improve ourselves. We have to do this. I was the one in the family that just didn't make it in school. [00:37:37] Speaker A: It was a heart story, you know, [00:37:40] Speaker B: I had gotten back in school. I went to pro field school. [00:37:43] Speaker E: Everybody was getting averages 90 and over. [00:37:46] Speaker B: And it was hard on me. [00:37:47] Speaker A: And I had pain. They were immigrants, so they didn't stand for anything less. [00:37:53] Speaker B: So I just kind of hid. Sometimes I even think I'm hiding in [00:37:57] Speaker A: program, But I've been in program since [00:38:01] Speaker E: I was a kid. I graduated from college my last year [00:38:04] Speaker B: of college, and a friend of mine said, I think you need this. And that was in 74. And I've been in program ever since. Sometimes I left, I got married, I had kids. [00:38:16] Speaker A: I wanted to be that person, you know, always working, working. [00:38:20] Speaker B: What happened was I became a caregiver. In the meantime, I took care of my husband, who was very sick, and [00:38:26] Speaker A: he still is sick. [00:38:27] Speaker B: I took care of my sister, who was mentally ill, severely mentally ill. My mother, who had Alzheimer's. I think a lot of people I find in program are caregivers. And I just kind of burnt myself out. Abstinence. I kind of made it, you know, [00:38:43] Speaker A: I Wore A size 10. [00:38:44] Speaker B: And then I got sick and. And I went down to maybe an 8. [00:38:47] Speaker A: And I was like, ah, I loved myself. [00:38:51] Speaker B: But that wasn't it. [00:38:52] Speaker E: I still was in a lot of pain. [00:38:55] Speaker B: I did the steps over and over, but now I'm a senior. I'm an older woman, you know, and I see my friends dying. My entire family is gone. My primary family. I just lost my brother and sister in 23 together, and it was only three of us, and it was extremely difficult. But I am determined. I think it's step six, the willingness. There's a will in me. Even though I'm still in pain, I accept it. [00:39:31] Speaker A: All these key words. But I want to live. [00:39:35] Speaker B: I am so grateful that gratitude is so important to me. [00:39:39] Speaker E: I've learned along the way. [00:39:41] Speaker A: Late bloomer. [00:39:42] Speaker E: But I've learned along the way. [00:39:44] Speaker A: If I'm just grateful to be able [00:39:46] Speaker B: to walk in here. A lot of my friends aren't walking anymore. [00:39:49] Speaker A: A lot of my friends have died. [00:39:52] Speaker B: And I'm just so grateful that people can get up here and talk about their mental illness. My family would have been so. But I accept who I am now because I do suffer, like each and [00:40:04] Speaker A: every one of you, with anxiety and depression. [00:40:07] Speaker B: So I did it. Thank you, [00:40:15] Speaker A: Lauren. [00:40:15] Speaker E: Compulsive overeater. I was just writing a few things down because I feel like I'm really scattered. I have adhd, depression, and anxiety. [00:40:25] Speaker A: And it was interesting. [00:40:28] Speaker E: I went to a workshop, virtual intergroup, put on about relapse prevention. And one of the factors that they talked about with relapse was mental health issues. And it really hit me hard because when I have relapsed I've been in program 47 years, and my current abstinence is only two and a half, but. Two and a half. Yay. I mean, for me, when I've gone to grad school and I've done it twice, the ADHD stuff and having undiagnosed ADHD and like, what's wrong with you? You're so smart. Why aren't you doing better? You know, it just, like, it's very unconscious. And I also feel like I'm a late bloomer in the program. It took me a long time to get that I have to change how I think, act, and feel. And I took a step study, and it really helped. You know, like, my most challenging defects, of course, character, are resentment and perfectionism. And with the resentment, I'm starting to realize, and every day I'm looking at it in my 10th step. I need to accept difficult situations, and there are things that I can change, things that I can't change. There are, like, injustices that I see at work that just make me furious. And, you know, what can I do? I can help the parent prepare to advocate for their child, but I can't control what the administration of New York City Board of Ed does. You know? You know, it's like they. I read the kids evaluations, and it was like the placement that they offered didn't match what the child's issues were, you know, and it just really. It's not right, you know, but it's. Thank you. One minute, one. It's not up to me. And, you know, the perfectionism, accepting myself, you know, accepting my limitations. I had a very bad day. I was titrating off a medication that's giving me side effects. And it's like, I could start going to see all these specialists to deal with the symptoms, or I could try going off the medication and seeing. And it is. I've never had a problem like this, titrating off. At some point, I found a liquid, so I'm using a syringe, and it's like 5 milligrams in. You know, it's like. Anyway, I feel like on some level, like, the denial for me has been huge. You know, the forgetting that I have a disease after a period of being abstinent, the food, you know, the obsession and compulsion lifts. And then I forget. And I think, you know, I can go about my business. And it's like, really, I can't. And, you know, the lie that the disease tells us, I can have a little bit, and it's not going to Hurt me. You know, I can binge once in a while. I can. I can. And get absent and I can't. [00:43:17] Speaker B: Thanks. [00:43:18] Speaker E: You know, in the end with my last relapse, I couldn't get 30 days together day at a time. [00:43:25] Speaker F: Come on up. [00:43:26] Speaker C: The sheriff. [00:43:26] Speaker F: Come on up. [00:43:27] Speaker A: Sing anybody out or anything? [00:43:37] Speaker B: We only know each other electronically. My name is Roberta. I am a compulsive eater and anxious, depressed I guess all of those. All my life. A I came to OA 28 years ago and it has been more than a pillar a building to help me with almost. I have getting along with people because of the situation Family has depression and suicide and overeating and I don't know, a whole rainbow of things. And the structure of depth and the whole concept of living within the structure of the steps fair is so supportive to problems. Mental illness problems. I don't know what. I'll just use that term even though I don't think it's quite adequate for the sighing and pain and time people go through the very idea that, you know, AA invented steps and then of course we had them. The idea that it's an architectural term hasn't eluded me over the years in that we have this visible method of progress and it supports kinds of. Any therapy I've ever heard of and any situations that I've been through and working at school and the kids go through the steps can really do it and support the other aspects of our lives. So I'm very grateful to be here. But you know, I'm just imagining that you said everything I needed to know. But I'm sure you did the way he always does. Thank you. Thanks. Thought that comes to me as a listen to other people. By the way, I forgot to tell you that I'm from Central. I do not like to label. I don't like the label mentally ill. I like better to say I'm in pain, I have depression. Some of it may be chemical imbalance in my dream. Some of it may be what I eat. Some of it may be pain from my dysfunctional upbringing. I don't like to use the term mentally ill. I've been around for 29 years. I've had periods of abstinence. But I'm a multiple relapser now I can be open to the idea that I may have an allergy of the body, possibly some foolage that I don't. That I haven't identified yet. I don't like being told that I'm not willing to admit that I just took food you know, I'm still learning here. I'm still learning. I hope I continue to learn every day in this program. I could say to myself, you're a slow learner or you're a late learner. I prefer to say to myself, you're cursing. You're still here after 29 years, you're still trying to learn. Mind how fast it takes me to learn. Maybe I just need to go through certain experiences that haven't come along yet. But doesn't mean it's the dark, gloomy, I'm here, I'm persevering. I'm growing. I'm learning, I'm working it. Hi, everybody, again. [00:47:45] Speaker A: Annie, compulsive overeater and recovering addict. I want to say thank you, everybody, for being here and for all your wonderful, heartfelt braves. Like I said, it was an honor to. And yes. So with that, we'll close. [00:48:11] Speaker F: We will close. Okay. [00:48:13] Speaker C: We'll close. [00:48:15] Speaker B: Okay. [00:48:16] Speaker A: That's all the time we have for sharing. Thanks for this workshop. We'll close with the Serenity Prayer in silence for those suffering in and out of the rooms as Serenity Prayer. God, grant us the serenity to accept things we cannot change, courage to change [00:48:42] Speaker F: the things we can, the wisdom to notice the difference. [00:48:48] Speaker A: Mind you, don't keep coming back. [00:48:50] Speaker B: It works. [00:48:53] Speaker A: Thank you very much, everyone. [00:48:56] Speaker B: Lefty like me. Things are going to be.