At first, my addiction might not sound to you like much of a problem. Maybe you’ll even envy me. I’m used to the different reactions I get when I tell people, and so it’s hard for me to write what I’m about to write. But at the same time it’s really important to me to write, because Retorno saved my life, and it’s worth it for me to share this – because maybe it will save your life, too.
I’m addicted to sex. Yes, it’s an addiction that can be just as bad as a drug addiction, alcohol addiction, food addiction, and so on. Why did my sex addiction ruin my life? Because it controlled me. It didn’t let me be myself, and it took over every aspect of my existence. Sex was the center of my world, and it made no difference what the outcome would be – my addiction always led me into more and more dangerous relationships.
I’ll spare you the awful details of what I went through. The important thing is to realize that this is, in fact a problem, and that you need to go through a withdrawal process. When I got to Retorno, I didn’t know what to expect. But from the first moment, the incredible staff, the social workers, and the rest of the team showed me that I’m in good, safe hands. They are knowledgeable and professional yet warm and caring, and they helped me realize the hardest thing of all – that I’m addicted in such a way that my life is controlled by outside forces, that my life was not my own, and the I had totally gotten lost in this foreign, malicious tangle.
The process of recovering from a sex addiction is like any other withdrawal process. It’s a long, difficult journey. My addiction gave me no rest – not for one moment – and Retorno’s staff was always there for me to help me calm down, to hug me, and truly love me. Whenever I felt I was about to fall, they were the address I turned to, the address that saved me at the last moment from tumbling into the black hole of addiction.
I will never forget what Retorno did for me. They gave me a new life.
