I was in CoDA for 6 months when I had to terminate a relationship. I was waiting at the station for my train to go to my CoDA meeting in the City. When the train pulled into the station, something inside me pulled me to the track. I just thought: "I can’t do this to my children!”, turned around and held on to metal bars in front of the station window until the train had stopped. Then I got on the train, sat down and made a gratitude list in my head. That pulled me out of despair. When I got to the City I had no energy—it was all used up to keep the feelings down that wanted to come up. I dragged myself to the meeting, head down. After the meeting (and I had not even shared about my experience), I had a spring in my step and walked the 20 minutes to the station with my head high. What a change, what a blessing this CoDA meeting was for me. This October I celebrated my fifth CoDA birthday! Working the program has changed my life around, and I start my day with gratitude and turning my will and my life over to the care of God!

Friederike – 10/4/16