NEXT EDITION We're anticipating more wonderful articles in the February 2025 issue on the theme, “God As We Understand Him.” WE NEED YOUR SUBMISSIONS, though! If you already submitted something, it was lost when we tried to recover data and files after we suddenly lost Luc, our previous editor. Please submit (or re-submit) your ESH about “God As We Understand Him” to essay@sa.org.
My name is Raphael. I am a grateful, recovering sexaholic. I have been sober by the grace of God and with the help of all you in this program of SA since April 7, 2019. I am also currently serving a 50-month sentence for actions I took as a result of my addiction to lust.
My name is Abdelbarie, and I’m a sexaholic. Friends in America would pronounce my name Ab-del-BAH-ree, but to be honest, it’s the word “sexaholic” I’m still not used to. I never knew exactly what was wrong with me. I thought I was just a normal guy with a nasty porn and masturbation habit. As it turns out, I’m not normal at all.
My name is Dave, I’m a recovering sexaholic, and I’ve been sexually sober since August 1, 1985 by the grace of God and this wonderful Fellowship. I came into the Fellowship when I separated from my first wife hoping to save my marriage. After two years of sobriety, we still divorced, and by the grace of God, I knew absolutely that I had no business being in any kind of romantic relationship, much less a committed one.
I was unmarried when I entered SA at the age of 26. I got sober and stayed sober though several dates and relationships. I met my wife after 16 years of sobriety. I remained sober through our courtship and 12 years of marriage (so far).
After finishing my Step Four harms inventory, I was very grateful to notice that each consecutive person that I dated after I got sober had fewer harms. There are still things left to work on, but my ability to have healthy relationships has improved since joining SA. I'd like to describe some of the progress that I saw in my inventory.
I recently dated someone for three months. The first month was great, but by the second month, I felt like he was pulling back emotionally, and by the third month, we said our goodbyes.
There’s a great talk by Roy K. called “Sponsorship and Group Sobriety.” (If you are new to the Program, Roy K. was the founder of our Fellowship). In his talk, Roy K. shares about the highest purpose of sponsorship. It’s not to keep people coming to the Program, and it’s not to keep people sober, because only a Higher Power can do that. According to Roy, the highest purpose of sponsorship is not even working the Steps, although that is an integral part of it. He says that the highest purpose of sponsorship is introducing other men to the real Connection and bringing them into a way of living where the sponsee can experience having that real Connection.
Als ich im Herbst 2020 zu AS kam, habe ich zwar nicht mehr funktioniert, aber bereit, eine neue Richtung einzuschlagen. Das lag daran, dass ich so verzweifelt war. Meine langjährige Erfahrung bei den Anonymen Alkoholikern hatte mir zwar einige Vorteile gebracht, darunter unzählige Literatur-Meeting und eine gute Vertrautheit mit dem Blauen Buch und den Zwölf und Zwölf. Ich erinnerte mich sogar an einige Passagen, wie z. B. Seite 417 über Akzeptanz, die ich immer noch Wort für Wort aufsagen kann. Die Dinge, die ich auswendig gelernt habe, dienen mir immer noch als eine Art mentale Referenzbibliothek.
Fin dall'inizio del mio percorso in SA sapevo che il nostro fondatore, Roy K., aveva scritto Sexaholics Anonymous (il “Libro Bianco”) e in seguito ho saputo che aveva scritto anche Recovery Continues, Discovering the Principles e diversi opuscoli di SA. Tuttavia, per molti anni mi sono chiesto chi scrivesse tutto il resto della nostra meravigliosa letteratura su SA e chi e cosa fosse coinvolto nel processo di pubblicazione. Poi si è presentata l'opportunità di svolgere un servizio internazionale e mi sono offerto volontario per entrare a far parte del Comitato per la letteratura.
