“Participate or Isolate…That is the Question”

Just as Hamlet contemplated his existence with the question “To be, or not to be” in the famous Shakespearian soliloquy, we overeaters must contemplate our disease with a similar thought, to participate or to isolate. F or many of us our disease is one of isolation. It wants us to stay home on the couch with our food at the ready. But we must not give in to that desire if we wish to recover from compulsive eating. One powerful weapon in our arsenal is part icipation. Participate by working all the steps, participate by working the tools, participate by giving service, and participate by attending events. All of these methods of participation require fellowship with others. We cannot do any of these things without some degree of reliance upon one another – thus ending our isolation. Participation gives life to our recovery – isolation only strengthens the disease. The pandemic has given us all the most urgent and understandable reason to isolate. It has affected all of us to one degree