RULE 62
A Look into Step Four
Seeing My Part Without Taking Blame Step Four was eye-opening for me. It was also hard to look at, written on paper, what I had done and who I was. I just didn’t want to be that person anymore.
Courage to Change
Overcoming Addiction and Betrayal to Rebuild Love, Trust, and Purpose. When I attended my first SA meeting in May 2021, I was totally immersed in lust and had already lost almost everything.
Beyond the Pendulum Swing
Higher Power’s guidance in both struggle and service. Step into Action (p. 67) tells us that “There are many good ways to do a Fourth Step inventory.” It recommends listing and describing our resentments, fears, and the selfish nature of our sexual behavior, but it also mentions identifying our positive attributes and recognizing what “God would have us be.” This can also be found in our personal history of other, more positive, behaviors—especially in actions that stand in direct contrast to our defects, like opposite ends of a pendulum’s swing.
Desensitized to Destruction
How the Steps, Higher Power, and the Fellowship helped this member find his path to recovery, one day at a time. Tonight, a tragic plane crash dominates every news network. The world is in shock. Why? Because plane crashes are rare—they don’t happen often, so when they do, it’s overwhelming.
In My Sober Life
Finding Strength in Higher Power and Self-Discovery My name is Aaron M., and I’m a lust addict. One of the biggest parts of self-discovery in my recovery is the vast gulf that exists between who I am when I’m practicing sobriety and who I am when I’m in active addiction. They’re almost (but not quite!) two different people, with their own personalities and motivations. My sober self goes completely out the window whenever I take that first lust drink and the “other guy” kicks in.
Images of Recovery
Making recovery artwork helps my own recovery. This piece represents the journey of recovery as described in the Big Book. The figure in the center symbolizes a recovered individual with his own unique light and color. As each recovered member crosses through the gate of freedom, he carries his own colorful light, contributing to the collective glow of our souls.
SA CFC 2
Even when cut off from the world, you’re never cut off from recovery. A few years ago, I wrote an article about my experience sponsoring incarcerated fellows by mail. How different it is now to be one of them! As if I needed further proof that I’m just another “bozo on the bus”!
SA CFC 1
How a sponsor changed my life All my life I went to church, served others, and believed in a higher power. I am married with seven children. However, I lived a secret life of pornography addiction for 27 years. I had a lot of trauma I did not know how to deal with after being abused as a child several times by four different men while growing up. My pornography use eventually led to a crime that put me in prison for four years.
Editor’s Corner
Enjoy this April 2025 edition of the ESSAY and take a load off of yourself. Yes, you’re still responsible for clearing away the wreckage of your past, but remind yourself that although Higher Power still lets you struggle in your character defects so you can grow and progress, you’re not responsible for removing them. That’s God’s job! Surrender it all to Him.
Dear ESSAY
Dear ESSAY, Thank you again for the contributions of this magazine to our fellowship. It is very important! So many of our members look forward to the next issue. During the months that I spend in West Africa every year in fellowship with SA members, we download and distribute the current issue of the ESSAY. We don't have many hard copies of the White Book since the international mail and local m
