ESSAY April 2026 - To Trudge Along with Them - Kip H., Washington, United States

Positive sobriety was not possible for him without positive steps and real connection with others.  I came into this Program seeking “negative sobriety”. By that I mean I wanted to negate acting out from my life. Like everything else up to that point, I thought I could do it on my own. If I read some literature, meditated a bit on all the things I’d done and sought absolution for them, bingo, I’d be cured. This was, of course, my ego telling me that I could solve all my problems. Of course, it was that mindset that overwhelmed me, that drove me to pornography and fantasy, away from the real world where people I loved and cared about lived.