Topic: Why is doing service rewarding to you?
Topic: Why is doing service rewarding to you?
- Karen S
Service is incredibly rewarding to me!
I am a ‘learn by seeing and doing’ person. I have learned so much about OA, myself, and life by doing service in this 12-Step program of recovery.
Service allows me to meet new people, share ideas and learn new ideas from others especially about recovery and keeping OA alive.
I know where I would be without this program, six feet under!
Service has allowed me to get involved and stay involved.
What a gift from my loving HP.
-Karen S. - Kara M.
I learned early on in recovery that service was a part of the program and I could ‘give back’ as a way of thanking my Higher Power for another day of abstinence. (I also heard that ‘service is slimming’ so that may have been a motivator as well!)
Service…
–and there are soooo many ways doing service in the Fellowship–
Service keeps me accountable.
It helps me stay motivated to follow my food plan.
It gives me an excuse to attend a meeting (especially if I ‘don’t feel like it’),
It keeps me willing to help others through sponsorship or outreach calls.
And it can be great fun!
We are not a glum lot!
-Kara M.
- Michelle N
Service is rewarding to me in the people that are reached, whether newcomers, the public, professionals, family members, and previous fellows. Secondary to that is the friends I get to make, and the life experience and joy they exude by living out their recovery. Third is a sense of understanding, community, and appreciation for the “service bodies” of my town, state, country, continent who work together for us all to live better. Fourth is the consistency that attendance provides when my own personal life ebbs and flows with manageability, giving my HP a chance to work and fill me with fellowship and meaning (and there’s little thought to food when involved in service). Every moment adds to the richness of my life in recovery.
-Michelle N, CTIG
- Rob M.
Doing service has changed my life.
By keeping involved in service I’ve really grown and in my program.
I’m lucky enough to be involved in 3 in person meetings and I do service at all of them and now being in WCBC I’ve gotten to know more people and I’m enjoying this experience. - Willing P.
I am involved in the PIPO outreach work of our intergroup and also on the region six similar committee. I do outreach because once I have discovered treasure, I am motivated to share it with others. Turns out, that sharing the treasure of powerful, effective ideas which can transform your life, is extremely rewarding and by sharing it, it increases the value of my treasure.
I do service at the board, region, and world service level because I am committed to giving back in order to get more. This karmic principle seems to underlie much of my growth and my life, improvement, transformation as well as my spiritual growth. Since I am at home, looking at the big picture of how organizations operate and make improvements in effectiveness and efficiency, I can make my greatest contribution at this level to the overall impact of OA in the world.
Spending time with other people doing service at the intergroup, region and world level puts me in the company of an extraordinary set of extremely committed and positive people who have frequently traveled arduous journeys in their lives to achieve their present level of spiritual development and abstinence. I always felt that if you wanted to improve, it’s a great idea to hang out with people who are a level or two ahead of you and this is exactly what happens in doing service at the intergroup, regional, and world levels. Although nothing is formal, I do feel that spending time with people at high service levels increases my accountability or my willingness to be accountable to myself. This increases my commitment and results. - Melanie
Service is one of my tools of recovery that helps me every blessed time to work the Traditions and the Steps. Place me amidst people, whether in an OA room or not, and there, in doing service, I most definitely am put into situations where my ego is evoked. In those difficult times is when my spiritual growth occurs.
My character defects rise to the surface, and in the disturbances, I am reminded of the Traditions. I must then work my Steps to keep me balanced in my recovery. I must go to any lengths to prevent buildup from happening. I clear away the clutter as it comes so that the buildup won’t lead me to the crazies and then the food. I must be on alert.
I am grateful my HP gives me awareness and acceptance in every situation so I can take action. By taking responsibility and letting go of what I cannot control or whatever fears lurk, I am able to make a plan of action necessary to do better.
It is by living in the Steps that I change one day at a time. The principles of my program grow within me and my relationship with my HP gets richer. How much more rewarding is it, to have a life free of the insanity I once lived? Finally, free amidst the chaos in this world. Learning to live life on life’s terms with my steps gives me a life beyond my wildest dreams.
I will always be a compulsive overeater, so service is a must for me to be able to live in the Steps.
I have a life with purpose, doing what I am meant to do; sharing of myself to help another.
A greatful, compulsive Overeater
Melanie B. - Judy K.
Service is rewarding to me because it teaches me responsibility and gives me purpose. Having responsibility and purpose are essential in our work life. Therefore, OA is a great place to practice these two very important attributes. Even in retirement, I feel that it is rewarding to have responsibility as well as purpose. Maybe it is how we humans are wired that we find a need to have some form of responsibility and purpose.
When we work with sponsees, it is very rewarding to see them come out of a fog of food behaviors. When we set up chairs at a meeting, it is rewarding to see the welcome that people feel when they walk into a nicely set up room. When I do service for my intergroup, I am affecting even more OA’ers. When I do service for my Region, I get to meet members from other states and countries. This reminds me that our disease knows no country borders. When I do service at the World Service level, I am elated to meet people, again from all over the world, who take this program as seriously as I do, and work the steps and use the tools to get well. It is rewarding to see that many people travel from the other side of the world for their recovery and for the opportunity to take back ideas to their home regions so people in their home communities can be helped.
