August 3

“We may consider entering into a co-sponsorship relationship with a program friend for mutual support.”

Sex Addicts Anonymous, page 14

After I had been in SAA a while, my original sponsor went absent. This brought up feelings of abandonment, anger, and confusion. After a month of this, I started reaching out to my SAA home group and utilizing the phone list.

I soon began forming stronger relationships with friends in the program. This led to group step-study, making outreach phone calls to three friends a day, and most importantly, carpooling to SAA meetings I had never attended before. I had lost my pillar, but found a huge safety net in the process.

It is nonetheless vital that I have a sponsor. A sponsor is one appropriate person with whom I begin to practice trust, a person who guides me through the Steps and who can catch me when I’m fooling myself or others. I eventually found a new sponsor, but if it hadn’t been for establishing co-sponsorships with new friends in recovery, I would have been vulnerable to my inner circle during that period.

I learned a lot from this experience. I learned that my sponsor is not here to keep me sober; that responsibility is between me and my Higher Power. I also learned that I cannot do this alone, and when I reached out, I found love and support.

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Today, I will reach out to at least one other addict in love and support.