عندما انضممت إلى س.م في الخريف من ٢٠٢٠. كنت محطمة ولكن على استعداد لتلقى التوجيهات. ذلك لأنني كنت يائسة جدا. أتاحت لي سنوات عديدة من الخبرة في م.ك.م بعض المزايا، بما في ذلك اجتماعات دراسة الكتاب التي لا حصر لها والتعرف الجيد على الكتاب الكبير و (اثنتا عشر واثنتا عشر. حتى أنني تذكرت بعض الفقرات مثل صفحة ٤١٧ عن القبول، التي ما زلت أستطيع تلاوتها كلمة بكلمة. الأشياء التي تذكرتها لا زالت تعمل كنوع من مكتبة مرجعية عقلية.
في اجتماعي الأوّل في زمالة سكّيري الجنس المجهولين، سمعتُ شخصاً يقرأ "المشكلة"، وعرفت أنّني في المكان الصّحيح. في الكتاب الأبيض كَتَب روي:
I’ve had the pleasure of attending quite a few SA meetings since 2020 when I first joined the Fellowship. In some of those meetings, we used ESSAY magazine articles in our literature rotation. I’m writing this to highlight how two articles from the ESSAY were very impactful in meetings I attended.
I came to SA in November 2007 and was granted the grace of sobriety from the first meeting. It was the beginning of SA in our country, we didn’t have SA books or materials, so we used the support of NA-program Step books and an NA-sponsor. I first got involved in SA-literature translation in 2008 when I was offered to translate SA-literature into my native language.
I knew from the start of my journey in SA that our founder, Roy K. wrote Sexaholics Anonymous (the “White Book”) and then later learned that he also wrote Recovery Continues, Discovering the Principles, and several SA pamphlets. However, for many years, I wondered who writes all our other wonderful SA literature and what’s involved in the publication process. Then the opportunity arose to do international service, and I volunteered to join the Literature Committee.
In the chapter “Overcoming Lust and Temptation,” the White Book emphasizes the vital role that both AA and SA literature play in sustaining our sobriety and recovery, ensuring that there is at least one sober voice at meetings. These texts offer key insights into ourselves and a deeper understanding of the recovery principles. Roy states very clearly that Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve and Twelve constitute the basic texts of the original Twelve-Step program (SA 77).
The author of this article shares how he guides his sponsees through the 12 Steps, carefully following the program literature. This practice helps him stay engaged with the material on a regular basis.
Before getting sober, I was not a book person. In fact, I had never read a book cover-to-cover. I almost finished one book in school because it took me into a fantasy world, away from reality. Most reading for me, though, was distressing and pointless.
When I joined SA in the autumn of 2020, I was broken but willing to take direction. That’s because I was so desperate. Many years of experience in AA did afford me some advantages, though, including countless book study meetings and a good familiarity with the Big Book and the Twelve and Twelve. I even remembered some passages, like page 417 about acceptance, which I could still recite word for word. The stuff I memorised still serves as a kind of mental reference library.
At my first meeting of Sexaholics Anonymous, I heard someone read “The Problem,” and I knew that I was in the right place. In the White Book Roy wrote:
