Your past cannot be changed, but your future can.
For many recovering addicts, Step 9 is a key step on the road to lasting recovery and a life changed for the better. This change for the better occurs so often that the book Alcoholics Anonymous lists what are commonly called ‘The Promises’ at the conclusion of Step 9. The Promises, as delineated by AA, read as follows:
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are halfway through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
These promises are equally applicable to Step 9 with other addictions, including sex and porn addiction. If we want them, they are there for the taking.
Task for Today
Think about the ninth step promises. Which are you most looking forward to? Have any of the promises come true for you already?