I was at the dentist’s office this morning where I picked up a recent People magazine. In there was an article which featured three women who had the gastric bypass surgery, and found themselves addicted to other substances once they could no longer abuse food. The contents of the article was no surprise to me. I see and hear about people switching addictions all of the time. These three women chose alcohol, shopping, and cigarettes as their new drugs of choice. I was pleased with the article because they talked about Debtors Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous, and showed how just losing the weight doesn’t fix the bigger problem. I believe that if you’re an addict, you’re going to choose your poison until you get your emotional and spiritual selves fixed. Until then, you’ll just keep picking up or switching addictions. Addiction is a powerful, killing force to be reckoned with and it scares me.

Today I have to be mindful of picking up new addictions, because it comes so easily to me. It’s just who I am at my core. Food is no longer an option, neither is alcohol or drugs or cigarettes. I’ve gone to shopping a bit, and I do need to be careful with that. The internet is also an addiction for me. I find myself getting sucked up into things online and before I know it, hours have gone by. I’ve made changes recently to counteract that, and I’ve been talking to my sponsor about it. I just need to keep repeating the mantra of “moderation in all things”, because it’s not in my nature to do anything moderately. I’m an all or nothing, black or white kind of girl. Living life in the gray is new to me, but I find that I like it. I just have to remember to stay there.

Technorati Tags: addiction, 12 step programs, Overeaters Anonymous, Debtors Anonymous