I came into SA when I was 23. In meetings, I would sometimes hear other members share about the tactics they had used in their sickness to isolate themselves from other sexaholics. I related to their tactics—thus making it easier for me to justify acting out.
I started attending SA meetings regularly in October 2006, when I was 21. I didn’t know very much about recovery or the Twelve Steps, but I knew I needed help for my sexual thinking and behavior.
Seven years ago, when I was 29, I came into SA after crossing one of my boundaries: I had an affair with a married coworker. It wasn’t the affair that made me realize I had a problem, however, but the fact that my affair partner wanted to become emotionally attached and I wasn’t interested.
My struggles with sexual fantasy began when I was five years old. I began masturbating when I was ten. But in the summer of 2009, when I was 27, I walked into SA and have been sober ever since, by the grace of God alone.
I had a great experience at the Chicago Convention. I usually attend non-taped meetings at conventions, so that when I get home and listen to CDs of the taped meetings, I feel like I’m attending a second convention!
One day, while I was still active in my addiction, I threw away my pornography collection and swore off masturbation. My resolve didn’t last long however, and soon I was back to my old habits.
Do you know an SA member who is likely to be incarcerated soon? Would you like to help that member prepare for the experience? The CFC offers support to incarcerated members in a variety of ways, including sending complimentary SA Literature as requested, offering a Sponsor-by-Mail program, helping members start meetings in prison, and providing parolees with SA contacts.
Dear Fellow SA Members: One great blessing in my life was when I found a sponsor and then let him guide me through the Steps. It was not easy to do as he suggested. However, one constant reminder from the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions kept me focused on what I needed to do: “AA’s Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole” (12&12 15).
I’m an SA member living in Sudbury, Ontario (Canada). Here in Sudbury, we have a large group of SA members who meet every Monday and Friday. One day I wrote a poem, expressing my gratitude for the members of my group. Long after I wrote it, an SA friend told me the poem had blessed her.
On any given day, while talking on Skype to a sponsee in Malaysia, I might hear torrential thunderstorms. Another time I might hear the call to prayer from a Mosque’s loudspeaker while talking to a guy in Istanbul.
