IN THE CURRENT MAGAZINE

“How do you practice your program during this pandemic?” Haha! Thanks for asking. I was on a Zoom meeting the other day when a young man said with some alarm, “I feel like I’m living like a monk!” That just fits for me, I’m thinking. :))

Five old-timers shared their tools of using their body to overcome their lust temptations:

I met Dave at a downtown Denver SA meeting. He introduced me to Maxey. He volunteered at a shelter, and brought out three rescue dogs and it wasn’t even close. Maxey was the dog for me.

My name is Matan C. and I am a recovering sexaholic from Jerusalem, Israel; I am sober joyous and free from September 30th 2016 by the grace of a loving Higher Power, the 12 Steps and Traditions, my Sponsor and Sponsees, my Family, this Fellowship and a wide variety of recovery tools, one of which I would like to share with you now.

I recently came across an acronym which reminded me of what I need to do each day to remain sexually sober. The acronym is SAHOPE. Here’s what each letter stands for.

Below is what I shared with a lady in the fellowship who felt attracted to a man in a mixed meeting:

One of the most effective Practical Tools is HUMOR. The difference between your sponsor and a therapist 1. Your sponsor isn’t all that interested in the reasons you acted out.

Football (or Soccer as they call it in the US) - what would we do without it? It is so exciting, so passionate, such a good topic of conversation, and so much more. As a teenager I was obsessed travelling around the UK following (worshipping?) my beloved Tottenham Hotspur F.C. As life moved on and I got busy with studies, marriage, kids I realized that (maybe?) there are more important things in life and I gradually lost interest.

Let’s start with some statistics. The word happy appears in the book Sexaholics Anonymous seven times, and in the book Alcoholics Anonymous 16 times. The word joyous is in the SA book eight times, and in the AA book 12 times. Freedom is used only four times in the AA book and 37 times in the SA book.

It works if you work it! It’s a simple quote. We repeat it at every meeting. Just as simple is the requirement for membership: a desire to stop lusting and become sexually sober. But while these are simple truisms, living them is not easy. To stay sober in the face of day to day challenges and to deepen my recovery means I have to work the Steps, practice the tools of recovery, do service for others and take regular guidance from my sponsor.