IN THE CURRENT MAGAZINE

In the wake of a full solar eclipse, that fascinated many people across the continental United States on August 21, 2017, another phenomenon occurred which eclipsed all else. It began at 09:00 UTC on August 23, 2017, and continued for 24 hours. It was the first SA Geek Camp, during which SA members from all over the world connected together via the Internet to carry the SA message.

My name is Peter and I am a sexaholic, addicted to lust. I am so grateful for technology, I thank God regularly for allowing me to be lust free when using it. In my disease I used the computer and telephone to enhance my acting out. It allowed me to live in a fantasy world.

For the past several years the International Conferences have had portions of the event streamed on the internet. Recently this has been done at the conferences in Denver, Jerusalem and Newark. Five sessions were streamed in Denver, three in Jerusalem, and eight in Newark last July.

As a sexaholic, I have been blessed with five and a half years of continuous sobriety and recovery from lust. Much of my recovery is due to a high amount of service work in order to give back what has been so freely given to me. This includes attending International conventions when I can. I recently returned from the Jersey Strong SA/S-Anon/S-Ateen convention. The Saturday lunch S-Anon speaker was an S-Ateen instead.

At the Jersey Strong conference in Newark in July 2017 there was an Old-Timers panel meeting. The speakers with 30-plus years sobriety included Dianne (1987), Margot (1986), Harvey (1984), Mitch (1985), and Tom (1987).

These are little gems of wisdom I have jotted down through the years. I keep them in my “Meeting In A Pocket” booklet from SAICO.

On July 3rd, 2004, I left a family holiday party early to go to my first meeting. I even changed from shorts to long pants as I knew shorts were not supposed to be worn at meetings. My family assumed I was going to a church meeting, and I did nothing to correct them.

Once every week an SA member calls to read to me the First, Second and Third Steps as a kind of surrender prayer. When I listen to him it brings me back to the basics of the program in these Steps. It could be changed depending on the person giving these Steps. Here is what he reads to me when he calls:

One of the most important gifts I’ve received as the result of working Step Four has been the ability to get free from resentments more quickly and easily than ever before in my life. And along with freedom from resentment, I experience a level of peace, calm, and improved relationships which I never would have dreamed possible.

Can sex be an addiction? In fact, it is. To protect people who are hooked to this in Murcia, an association was born with purpose to help and which has set up a phone line, where one can call if they think they need help.