Only when I own up to my addiction by sharing and getting it outside of myself do I have a real chance of living a sober life. At a recent movie I was not bothered by nakedness in a scene. If I had known there would be nakedness, however, I would not have gone. I rationalized my being there by my ignorance of the fact that there would be nakedness. One cannot control everything that happens around one.

After the movie, I told myself nakedness can be beautiful and since it was not the reason I was at the movie, it was okay to be there. It was true that the movie could be seen without prurient interest by a healthy person. To hear a non-sexaholic say he would not have gone if he had known about the nakedness was to stand convicted as a sexaholic of the cunningness of addiction in not having investigated what the movie was about.

As a sexaholic, I cannot afford to take the chance of a first drink. The sexaholic can see something and still be seeing it a week later. What is seen can come back later in the form of addiction. Overconfidence leads to a carelessness which breeds relapses. The sexaholic is always a sexaholic and is a sober sexaholic only when budding signs are ruthlessly treated with tough medicine. What can be normal for a healthy person becomes a red light for the sexaholic, who must surrender to the Higher Power.