Hello all. I am grateful to have found a community like this. I have been clean from my primary sex addiction behaviors for a long period now. For my primary one, which I know many others here struggle with, it has probably been close to a year. That was after causing myself significant trauma and further challenges that I will not mention at the moment. For the others, some fraction of that but still a significant amount of time. Recently, I was hospitalized for a mental health crisis. It was quite distressing, I am still in active treatment. Outpatient five days a week. While I was in inpatient I began attending AA meetings. I didn't think that I was an alcoholic but I knew I had addiction challenges and knew that 12 Step Communities were very spiritual. The unit I was on was dual-focused. It catered to both mental health and addiction recover. I met someone there who had been addicted to multiple substances and faced incredible challenges in their life. How incredible it was to hear them validate that my addiction was real and a real challenge.
After being discharged I began going to SAA meetings which have been wonderful. Seeing, however, that there is a community like this that is focused on my own spiritual path of being a Jew and is dedicated to these challenges we face is something rather refreshing. You may be asking "if you have been sober for so long, what made you start going to meetings? What made you take this next step in your recovery if all the previous 'were enough'?" the fact of the matter is, addiction is a lifelong disease. It shows up in every aspect of our lives. To live with something like that without the support of a community that understands? That's a greater challenge-- and I'm not going to keep throwing extra weight on my back without reason. So I'm grateful to have access to recover communities, and grateful still that specified communities like this one exist. You should all find abundant strength, the power of an army of spiritual soldiers at your back (we are in this together), and the wisdom to know how to wield them for the sake of Hashem! Also, shout out to the work of Rabbi Dr. Avraham Twerski and Rabbi Shais Taub. Big thanks everyone.
