“PREJUDICES & CHALLENGES IN RECOVERY” — In this issue, read about how
members cope with prejudices and challenges in recovery, like:
♦ Letting go of the self-defeating ideas in our head.
♦ Meeting with people we normally wouldn’t mix with.
♦ Trusting God against all odds.
♦ Thinking we are too young, too old, damaged, not as messed up.
♦ Being in a prison affected by Covid-19.
Over three sober decades in SA there have been quite a few pieces of “bad news” for me as a recovering sexaholic. They all arise, like my entire program, from my experience, strength, and hope:
My name is Claire, I was created in the image of God and I am a grateful recovering sexaholic. My sobriety date is July 3, 2002. I need to remind myself that I am an addict because I can easily forget.
One of the most effective Practical Tools is humor.
I have been sober for a long time. I tried to give my recovery knowledge away like a fire hose. I realized I was overwhelming newcomers with way too much information at one time. I slowed it down to a garden hose.
After seven years of sobriety I relapsed. I called my sponsor, dreading his reaction. He was kind but very clear. One of the things he told me was to take stock of all program actions I normally practiced. Had I been practicing them? Were there some I had stopped doing or only doing occasionally?
I am a recovering sexaholic, since May 25, 2019, working the Steps with a sponsor. I thank my Higher Power, as I conceive it, for being a sexaholic and seeing my multitude of character defects that help me stay in Sexaholics Anonymous.
My form of fantasy is something that I hadn’t heard from anyone before, therefore I believed it could be something someone could be prejudiced towards me about. I remember in my early days of acting out I would fantasize about what women were enjoying. Being a male I felt my form of acting out wasn’t even “manly” enough to be shared with others.
The Cambridge English Dictionary defines “Prejudice” as follows: an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge.
When I joined the SA fellowship, I was afraid that it may have been a sect and incompatible with my faith. I wanted it to be a fellowship endorsed by the Church to which I belonged. But I saw members around me who were sober and that was what kept me coming back to meetings.
