Finding God in the Beauty of Nature
I’m Mike and I’m a sexaholic, sobriety date Aug 7, 2005. SA has given me my second chance at life and has been central to my recovery, but other things have helped too.
I’m Mike and I’m a sexaholic, sobriety date Aug 7, 2005. SA has given me my second chance at life and has been central to my recovery, but other things have helped too.
In active addiction, my slogan was “Being alone in heaven is harder than being with a girl in hell.” In early childhood, I could not imagine a world without girls. I used to be ridiculed for playing with girls instead of boys. Who cared, as far as I was concerned; I enjoyed playing innocently with girls
My job has nothing to do with graphic design, advertising, illustration of magazines, or anything like that ... years ago in my beginnings in SA I combined the design of the bulletin of my parish with sessions of consumption of chat and pornography ... only by a miracle of my Higher Power did I never by accident place a lust image in one of those newsletters... And, logically, the quality of my work was barely regular, the time invested twice as much as normal, I stayed up late and I used to be easily annoyed if someone criticized my work.
In my early days in SA I was single, had no job, no car, no money, and a lot of time. It was 2009, and because of the economic crisis I was unemployed. I attended three to four meetings a week, called my sponsor daily, wrote my Step work daily, and translated the whole White Book, Big Book, and Recovery Continues into my native language within a year.
In November 2022 I had the pleasure of travelling to Rome for the Italian-speaking fellowship’s convention (this is how I describe it, but I believe they called it a workshop). It was held in a beautiful spot, just behind the Colosseum, as you can see from the picture (taken from the gardens of the convention site).
Eager to improve carrying the message to sexaholics all over the world, the ESSAY team, supervised by the Board of Trustees, has built essay.sa.org, a website in responsive design, which means it can be read as a 21st-century digital magazine on your smartphone, tablet, and computer.
SA as an organization stays strong. We have face-to-face meetings in over 70 countries where newcomers can find recovery to change their lives. We also have hordes of online meetings, so that any of us can find a live meeting at any time of the day. We are indeed fulfilling our goal to “be there” whenever someone needs us.
The ongoing, ten-year Census of Sexaholics Anonymous is progressing. Regional Representatives are disseminating information on how to access and complete the Meeting Registration Form. Completed Meeting Registrations are being shared with members of the GDA (General Delegate Assembly) and other trusted servants every fifteen days. This feedback process assists all trusted servants in reaching out to areas that have not participated in the Census.
When I heard the 2022 EMER Regional Convention was going to be held in Armenia, I immediately asked at work to have two weeks off in October. I knew from the past how refreshing and strengthening conventions and after-convention fellowship are, and didn't want to miss the fun. It really exceeded my highest expectations!
When I first came to SA I did not know how fast to leave after the meeting. I did not want to be there. I did not believe it to be fun at all! That was more than 4 years ago. Since then a lot has changed. I frequently crack up before, after or even during a meeting. There are some real jokesters here in SA Amsterdam. Especially jokes about recovery or the struggles we are going through make me laugh. But it doesn't stop there.