I found Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) in Atlanta in May 2014. I would frequently arrive early to arrange chairs for my meetings. Usually, around 10 minutes before the meeting started, multiple fellows would sprinkle into the room.

When I moved to the FA frontier [term previously used to describe an area far away from an established in-person FA fellowship] July 2017, however, things were very different. On my first meeting night in my new fellowship, I walked into that cold meeting room without another fellow in sight and set up chairs as normal. The meeting time came and, after 10 minutes, no one had shown up. I later learned that most of the fellows who attended this meeting were visiting family out of town.

So it looked like it would just be me that evening. I became a little emotional because the large and continuously growing fellowship I took for granted was not at my disposal anymore. In my new fellowship, I hadn’t been met with the same large number of fellows. When I left Atlanta, there were 14 meetings every week. Now, my next closest meeting was 80 miles away.

While choking back tears, I remembered what a fellow told me when she started a meeting in Atlanta. “It didn’t matter if anyone came. I held a meeting every Monday night.” In that moment, I adhered to her suggestions. I began to read the format and, shortly afterward, two fellows showed up. What I learned from this experience was that I showed up for my meeting no matter what!

Since moving to the frontier, I have grown because I go to any lengths for my recovery today. I co-lead a phone AWOL (A Way of Life, a study of the Twelve Steps) and attend Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings as a substitute for FA meetings. I reach out to more fellows on a daily basis. I also jump on any opportunity to do service. I’ve helped plan conventions, participated as a speaker for multiple public information sessions, and taken on more sponsees.

I find that service is the key to keeping my abstinence today. By giving myself away, I find that God gives me so much more! I’m grateful to have my small fellowship. By following suggestions and working the tools of the FA program, I do not have to abuse myself with food, regardless of the size of my fellowship.