Friday, March 28th
But how could I be a sex addict? I regularly go six months without sex!
Sexual anorexia may be challenging to recognize in ourselves at first. We may have replaced sexual activity with fantasy and masturbation. Some of us abstained from sex altogether, believing others could never live up to our fantasy expectations. The lack of any affirming sexual experiences added to this belief. Alternatively, we may have experienced fears of rejection or abandonment, which inhibited sexuality in our intimate relationships.
Avoiding sex might have been a temporary solution to compulsive behaviors, but it may have developed into a compulsive choice that dissatisfied us. Other people seemed to have healthy sex; fears inhibited us, or perhaps we thought we did not deserve it. Still, we did not necessarily accept this way of life as our only path to sexual sobriety.
Working the Steps and using other SCA tools can enable us to break through the fears that have held us back from healthy sexual, social, and emotional intimacy with other people. We learn to develop compassion for ourselves and others.
“I wept with joy and relief as I saw that others knew what I was suffering from, and it helped me find hope and healing.”
I’ve learned to love and accept myself as a person worthy of having sexual intimacy in my life.