The first step in 12-step programs reads approximately as follows: “We admitted we were powerless over our addiction and that our lives had become unmanageable.” The wisdom expressed in this step is amazingly powerful and transformative for everybody, not just those who struggle with acute addiction. All human beings are subject to the human condition,
Generally speaking there are six primary signs and symptoms of sexual addiction, delineated below. These signs and symptoms eventually occur in nearly all sex addicts, regardless of age, gender, race, social status, or any other external factor. Obsession: Sex addicts are preoccupied with sex to the point of obsession. They think about it, fantasize about
I first began drawing a few cartoons in the early 1980s while I was still drinking and drugging and working as a nurse at the National Institute of Health (NIH). I poked fun at the healthcare researcher’s behaviors I worked with, such as smoking cigarettes during their break. Confronted about my own using, I got
Matters of the heart are generally a big issue for people in recovery. Not only from the emotional aspect, as we learn to come to terms with our past, but also from a physical sense, having spent years abusing our bodies recklessly. So what mends a broken heart? Self-care is always the first port of
What does Valentine’s Day have to do with yoga and recovery? Love, admiration, and relationships that are discovered within ourselves and with one another at meetings and other sharing. But occasionally we draw in advertising, movies, and other social media and experience sadness, loneliness, and, maybe, self pity. Sometimes we crave and contemplate what we
Chaos has been in the fabric of my being since I was five years old. I didn’t understand it then but I was most definitely cultivating the art of creating it, developing an eye to spot it and seeking out people who responded to it. Chaos was my safe place long before booze and drugs
My essay “Managing the Madness so I can Eat Cake” was turned into a Spoke Word piece and named “The Beauty & the Madness” – By Aaron Lee Perry (SOBrSOLDIER) for the Since Right Now Network. Check out both these awesome recovery resources. “I am forty one
Today is my birthday. I am forty one years old and ecstatic to have reached this age. On Saturday, I will be six years clean and sober. I say that with confidence because I cannot remember the last time I craved a drink or a drug, or even romanticised the notion of using either. During
“My name is Damien, and I’m an alcoholic.” This is the conventional way to introduce oneself at a meeting of the fellowship. It bugs me. The very first time I said these words they were incredibly powerful and liberating — when I finally said them, my surrender was complete. But as my sober time increases,
