The Library

Someone posted on the forum that they are working the 12-Steps and making progress, but every time they remember the terrible sins they did and the harm they caused others, they become depressed and even suicidal, thinking of the irreversible damage that was done. "Smile4...

Why do we turn to the garbage? At the end of the day, what is it that makes us keep going back to it after swearing it off so many times? A big part of it has to do with "Pain". Life can be painful at times. Most humans feel R.I.D (Restlessness, Irritable, Discontent) or ...

On Erev Yom Kippur last year, "Trying" posted: This is very hard for me to say, since I'm dead embarrassed. But secrecy keeps strengthening the addiction, so here goes. I fell again recently. I don't know how I'll even go to shul. I just want everyone to know how pathetic...

I am a yungerman, who after spending many years in kollel, is today in the working world. I tried to the best of my ability to ensure that the transition to the work-world would not compromise the standard of Yiddishkiet I had lead when I was in kollel, and for a long tim...

There was a recent article in the Mishpacha dealing with the terrible nisyonos of the internet. It was called "Is the Battle Lost?". Click here to download the article. One of our members (known as "Yurojew") sent in the following reply to Mishpacha, which we hope they wi...

"Loi-miyaeish" (a bachur) wrote in the forum: BARUCH SHECHAYANU VEKIYAMANU VEHIGIYONU LAZMAN HAZEH! Guys, I'm overwhelmed with emotion. I reached 90 days this Rosh Hashana! But there again, without Hashem's help, it would not have been possible. For over a year, I've bee...

The Mishna teaches (tractate Avos, 4:17) that an hour of Teshuva (penitence) and good deeds in this world is worth more than the entire World to Come, yet a minute in the World to Come is more sublime than all the pleasures of this world combined.From the above Mishna, we...

"In my youth, I was considered a bright and diligent student. How did I accomplish this? I tricked my yetzer hara. Other children had great plans at the beginning of the school year for the whole year, but in the end they failed. I said to myself, "I am going to plan just...

I have 41 days sober today. How do I do it? I pray. I rely on G-d, always realizing that lust is more powerful than me and it is only through His strength that I can stay sober. I go to lots of SA meetings. I have a sponsor who I call almost every day. I call others in th...

A Talmid of Duvid Chaim's group wrote yesterday to Steve and Duvid Chaim: After being clean for 112 days, I had a fall today. I was white-knuckling to a degree, happy to "make it through" each day. Don't worry, no depression, I've already turned the fall into an aliyah...

Today is the first anniversary of my joining this site. It truly has been of the most dramatic years of my life. I have changed how I look at this struggle, how I look at myself and how I act. I now know that I am not a monster or a terrible person, rather I am a normal h...

- From weakness comes strength.- We give it away to keep it. - We suffer to get well. - We surrender to win. - We die to live. - From darkness comes light. - From dependence we found independence.

A EHRLICHER BUCHIR A BAAL TESHUVAH WENT TO THE MIKVAH EREV YOM KIPPURHIS TATTOOS HE TRIED TO CONCEALUNDER HIS TOWEL NOT TO REVEALAS HE APPROCHED THE MIKVA HIS TOWEL FELLHE WANTED TO HIDE LIKE A TURTLE IN HIS SHELL HE COLDN'T MOVE, FROZEN FROM SHAMETO HIS RESCUE AN OLD MAN...

Recently, when I was in the mikveh, I noticed another Yid, an ehrlich chasidishe married fellow, who, to my great surprise, had tattoos on his body, not something I would have ever known in my encounters with him outside the mikveh, clearly. Now, I had known this fellow ...

A story sent to us by "Zemirosshabbos" from a blog called Tikkun My wife and I had a newly-wed couple over as guests for the Friday night meal this past Shabbos. We knew the husband, who had grown up in my wife's neighborhood and went to the same shul as my father-in-law;...

The facts don't change for an addict in recovery. The addiction is STILL much stronger and, as far as I know, always will be. The only way out is never to let the addiction in the drivers seat. Keep the real you in charge, as much as it may hurt. And it doeshurt... and yo...

This is a poem I wrote about us, all of us on the GYE forum who have made a decision, held our noses and taken the terrifying plunge. Sometimes we think "let's be real here, what's the likelihood we'll ever manage to put this behind us?". Well, with that attitude we defin...

Your story reminds me of my own as well as so many others here on GYE. It's scary how easy it is to get hooked and how difficult it is to extricate yourself later. But if you learn one thing only here, know that it is possible to break free. You do not have to be a slave...