Every life crisis presents an opportunity, however painful, for personal growth.
A primary goal for most recovering sex and porn addicts is developing what noted sex addiction therapist Dr. Robert Weiss refers to as sexual integrity. When defining what sexual integrity looks like for you, there are several things to consider, including: what you learned about sex from your family; what doctrines are espoused by your religion and how important it is to you live within those doctrines; what your community believes about sex and sexuality; whether certain behaviors are physically and emotionally safe for you and others; whether you are harming yourself or anyone else with your behavior. Based on these considerations, your version of sexual integrity will probably not look like anyone else’s. What works for your best friend might be totally wrong for you, and vice versa. The trick, when developing your personal version of sexual integrity, is figuring out what works and makes sense for you (and, to a lesser extent, the people around you). Once you have established a workable plan for yourself, you are much less likely to experience negative consequences if/when you are sexual.
Task for Today
Consider how your life history impacts your definition of sexual integrity.