In order to best share my experience at the Poland International SA/S-Anon Convention I thought it best to describe my personal road traveled. 

I am a grateful recovering sexaholic from San Diego, California, USA who entered 12 Step recovery when I came to Sexaholics Anonymous on February 16, 2019, which also happens to be my sobriety date. At that time, the meetings were in-person and there were some phone meetings worldwide but as it was pre-pandemic there were no Zoom meetings. My recovery in my first 15 months was basically in-person meetings on the average of 2-3 per week, regular meetings with my sponsor in order to take the Steps, weekly visits with a local CSAT therapist, phone calls and text messages with brothers in the program, reading SA literature, and growing in recovery with my wife, an active member of S-Anon since February, 2019. 

My recovery program was good and consistent, but due to a limited number of in-person meetings in my area, and my work schedule I really struggled to find and attend more meetings, which I felt I needed and desired. 

This all changed in June, 2020! This was right after the start of the worldwide pandemic. Our local meetings had switched to online/Zoom but since the local meeting times had not changed it was still hard to attend more meetings as I had desired. By the grace of God, I accidentally stumbled across a meeting on Zoom known as Bozo’s on the Bus Essay. This meeting was apparently started by a few fellows based in Singapore and the Netherlands about one month earlier. It was a unique meeting in that with its atypical start time of 1:50 p.m. (Singapore time) it was in a unique time slot and could be attended by sexaholics all over the world, and there were regular SA members from the Asia Pacific region, Europe, and the USA in the beginning. Although the meeting started at 10:50 p.m. in California, I attended every night for nearly one year. The meeting was relatively small, generally averaging about eight sexaholics. It was in this Bozo’s group that my recovery program took off! I chaired meetings and provided tech support regularly. Now, three years later, the Bozo’s on the Bus Essay group is flourishing, averaging about 30 attendees daily, and up to 40 for weekly speaker meetings! The WhatsApp chat group affiliated with Bozo’s has nearly 200 participants! 

The brothers (and sisters) that I am the closest with in recovery I met through Bozo’s. The people that I call when I am struggling are in Bozo’s. My DSR and check-in partners I met in Bozo’s. Three of the five sponsees I currently sponsor came from Bozo’s. 

As most of you know, as a result of the pandemic, most worldwide conferences and conventions shut down between 2020 and 2022. During these years, Bozo’s has thrived. Being a Bozo on the Bus for the last 3 years has resulted in the most ‘real’ connections I have ever had in my life! These Bozo’s are my recovery brothers and sisters and I am grateful to be walking the road to recovery with each of them and I love them each dearly. 

So now back to my road to the Poland SA/S-Anon International Convention. Why and how did I end up there? Well, once the convention was announced, there was no doubt that my wife (S-Anon) and I would make the journey to Poland.  Finally an opportunity to meet many SA brothers and sisters I had known for so long IN-PERSON! I had prayed for this opportunity. Unfortunately, our initial plans got put on hold due to my wife needing to start her new job and would not be able to take time off to attend the convention. But with less than one month before the convention weekend we learned that my wife’s job would not start until August. I scrambled to make hotel and flight reservations with a plan to vacation in Europe around the convention. Our prayers were answered when everything was set up and we registered for the convention. God had certainly done for us what we could not do for ourselves. It was a miracle of recovery, a spiritual awakening. 

The meeting was wonderful! The highlights for me were:

1. The SA/S-Anon speaker shares and question sessions. Very relatable for myself and my wife. 
2. The small group topic sessions were helpful and inspirational. 
3. Recovery with my wife was very special. 

But, by far the most valuable, heartwarming, and emotional part of the weekend were the connections with SA brothers and sisters from around the world, the overwhelming majority were my closest program friends from the daily Bozo’s on the Bus meeting! We sat together for many hours and had real and vulnerable conversations. We cried together. I never shared so many hugs in one weekend. The entire weekend was truly a spiritual experience! God was with us at the Golden Tulip hotel. We all felt His presence throughout the weekend. 

It didn’t end there though. The final blessing of the weekend happened on Sunday morning when we had a hybrid SA meeting at the regularly scheduled Bozo’s on the Bus Essay time. 12 in-person Bozo’s and 25 Bozo’s in the Zoom room. The meeting was unique and highly emotional! One sister on Zoom turned on her camera for the first time ever, allowing us to see her for the first time! One brother in the live portion broke down in tears! It was real. It was raw. It was spontaneous. 

I am truly grateful that I was able to attend the Poland convention. It was a gift from my Higher Power filled with several spiritual awakenings.

Without the Bozo’s fellowship and its loving and compassionate brothers and sisters I don’t think I would have been at the Poland convention. My participation in the Bozo’s fellowship gave me the inspiration, faith, and desire to attend the convention in Poland. Trust in God’s will got me there. As the saying goes, “Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s world by mistake.”

I would like to thank the many sexaholics who put in the countless hours to make the convention the success that it was! I look forward to attending future conventions to create new miracles in recovery. Until then…

In gratitude,