I stood outside the meeting room waiting for the meeting to start. I
hadn’t had a drink for 90 days. Charlie looked at me and exclaimed so
everyone could hear, “what did you do to your body?!” I gained 20 pounds
in three months by gorging on cookies, sweets and other snacks. My body
craves the sugar I used to get from booze, but sugar isn’t the real
problem. Self-centered fear is.
I drank at self-centered fear
for thirty years trying to get comfortable in my own skin. This same
fear lurks behind everyone of my so-called sins -- greed, pride, envy
and my all time personal favorite, sloth. Willpower and self-discipline
don’t work for me. Sooner or later the termites of fear gnaw away the
foundations of my best intentions and I’m right back to where I started.
I’ve lost 100 pounds in the last 15 years -- the same 10 pounds 10
times.
A few years ago I realized as long as fear was driving, I
had to sit in the backseat. I had to go where fear took me. The fear
took away my ability to choose. I had to drink, I had to lie, I had to
cheat, I had to stuff cookies in my mouth. Once I realized I had no
choice but to do what I did, I began to let myself off the hook.
Confronting
these fears seems to be part of my spiritual journey. The Twelve Steps
dissolve my self-centered fear by bringing my old ideas into the light
of forgiveness. As the fear dissolves, my ability to make healthier
choices returns.