Hi. I’m Hal, sexaholic, sober since August 4, 2018. From 2008 into 2018 I was a “chronic slipper.” Thank God I didn’t quit SA before the miracle happened.

After years of treatment for anxiety and depression, my therapist recommended that I focus on working the 12 Steps of SA with a sponsor. SA was my last hope. In despair, I surrendered my pride and asked the man who is my current sponsor to sponsor me. He agreed to be my temporary sponsor. I had mixed emotions – tears of anguish, surrender and gratitude. Here was a sober sexaholic willing to help me! We started working the Steps in January 2018. I had slips for the first eight months of 2018. Working the Steps, I had fewer slips.

I received a miracle in recovery with a spiritual awakening on August 3, 2018. Three months after working Step 12 with my sponsor, with only a few hours of sexual sobriety, I found myself accepting all parts of Step 12. I was suddenly radically determined to go to any length to carry my recovery message to other sexaholics.

When I think about my first year of sobriety, four things come to mind. First, sponsorship is a significant part of my recovery. I got my first sponsee when eight days sober. Although we live 3,000 miles apart, we work the Steps by phone. This year I have walked over 30 men in four states through the 12 Steps of SA. It is a joy to see my sponsees meeting with their sponsees before and after meetings. Had I wallowed in selfishness, self-pity, and self-centeredness, and quit SA before the miracle happened, I would not have been able to see this miraculous Program in action.

Second, service helps my recovery in phenomenal ways. I took my first service position in August 2018, less than 30 days sober, when I was elected to Intergroup as Group Service Representative. At three months sober, in our fall marathon I co-led a breakout session with an experienced SA member who came down from another Intergroup in our region. Recently, I was blessed to serve on an Intergroup sponsorship panel event. Later I faced my F.E.A.R. (False Event Appearing Real) and joined an old-timer to co-chair our marathon.

Third, meeting commitments play a compelling role in my recovery. I have commitments at three meetings in my area: Group Service Representative for my home meeting; deputy greeter for a second meeting; and I chair a third meeting. Recently I led a breakout session at an SA Spirituality Retreat. It is a pleasure, rather than a burden, to serve with SA’s legacy of Service.

Fourth, gratitude i s part of my recovery. It is the perpetual posture from which I try to live out the principles of the SA Program. I am grateful to be sober, one day at a time, and to experience progressive victory over lust.

Sponsorship, service, keeping commitments, and gratitude do not cost anything. They’re free! And it is such a joy! I invite my fellow travelers in early sobriety to join me on this broad highway. You won’t regret it.

Attending SA meetings without working the Steps with a sponsor did not produce lasting results for me. I am a “real sexaholic” and could not recover until I worked the 12 Steps of SA. I do not work them perfectly. And, I do work the Steps daily, sometimes because I do not want to work them. Thank you, God, for the miracle of sobriety and recovery!