If you haven’t seen the brand-new video that just came out about the 12 Steps, be sure to check it out! “Why Working the Steps is Important” is the multimedia story of how a member worked the Steps of SA and came to understand the Solution to his Problem.
The thought rings in my mind, “Stop writing someone else’s story.” For so many years my addict controlled the story of my life. He told me to be afraid; that I was going to fail, so don’t even try. I so deeply believed my addict’s lies, that I wouldn’t dare to dream of who I am and what I wanted. I resorted to living a life for everyone else but me.
This January, our fellows in SA Exeter in the UK organized a Winter Convention held in their beautiful ancient city in the Southwest of England; it was a 3-day weekend of fellowship with sexaholics who came from all over the UK and Europe.
In Belgium, some fellows were attending meetings from another S fellowship since 1997, but after more than 10 years no one was able to stay sober for longer periods of time, even while trying to stay sober according to their own sobriety definitions. In July 2008, one very desperate member decided to go to an international convention in the States and the first one he found on the internet happened to be an SA IC.
The very first SA meeting in Egypt was held over Zoom in 2014 by a few members. Later on, in 2015, the first face-to-face meeting was held in Cairo. Today, there are seven weekly face-to-face meetings all over Egypt and six weekly online meetings including two women-only meetings.
Serving on Trustee Committees of SA is one of the most rewarding ventures I have experienced in recovery. Why? It promotes humility in me, as relatively few know of what the Committees do (low attention to self). No awards or pins for years of service (little room for self-exaltation). But there ARE rewards for service on the Trustee Committees.
Thousands of sexaholics all over the world tuned in to find out how numerous speakers and panelists do just that. One speaker compared it to showing up to the emergency room: everyone is there for help, regardless of culture, age, gender, religion, education, or any other distinction.
The Nov 14 Newcastle Convention was one of the most powerful experiences we have ever had. It was face to face as well as online. Hal and Scott related how they took many people through the steps the old way, the way Bill and Bob did it.
I am retired and in my personal travels I made an effort to visit local groups when I could. On some occasions the groups I visited were small and had limited sobriety. In those cases I was often asked to give my story. I am always grateful for a chance to be of service by sharing my personal experience, strength, and hope and making new friends.
New Zealand has a relatively young fellowship with much to learn from the experience of other international groups. With five main centers and an intergroup that has been in existence for approximately three years, we have the structure in place to allow proliferation of the fellowship Down Under.
