I am approaching a milestone in my recovery. It’s not an anniversary “birth date” so much as an oddity of my sobriety date and the Gregorian calendar. I am about to achieve 7 years, 7 months, and 7 days of sobriety, if I choose to follow God’s will again for the next few days. Oddly enough, again due to a calendar oddity, it will also be 2,777 days of continuous sobriety. So I began thinking of what my life was like 7 days, 7 months, and 7 years into sobriety.

I did not journal much until after about a month in to the program but I will never forget that first week. I was broken, my spirit was dead, and I didn’t want to go on living like I was. I walked into the rooms of Sexaholics Anonymous and I knew immediately that I was home. That’s the date I chose as my sobriety date. I had another meeting lined up later that week, but my wife returned home the day after my first meeting and I didn’t want to tell her I was in the group. So I waited. A week after my first meeting I was going crazy and I told her I needed to go to a noon meeting. She asked, “What meeting?” and I said, “Sexaholics Anonymous.” She said, “Thank you. Is there anything for me?” and we began a remarkable journey.

Seven months after my first meeting I was preparing my First Step. I had undergone a transformation in understanding that I was the problem, I had a disease, and I was going to go back out there if I didn’t get some fire under my butt. I had already had several close calls and I didn’t want what I had left behind. In fact, the guy I was really interested in had texted me and I had sent him to our local SA website and then cut out his phone number. I needed relief from my self-obsession.

Seven years after my first meeting I had transformed, caterpillar one day, butterfly seven years later. I live the program of recovery; it is my life today. My wife has undergone her transformation. I am no longer her god and she is not tethered to me for life. Our marriage has undergone a transformation. We are interdependent, neither co-dependent nor independent. We have the love we each sought for so many years through my addiction.

I cannot express enough gratitude to God, the Program, and the Fellowship of the Spirit that has guided me through this journey. If I live long enough, I may enjoy the fruits of another 7-7-7.