Dear GYE,
In 2011, I discovered that I had a problem and I turned to you guys, who eventually sent me to a 12-step group. I stayed clean for 3.5 years with relatively good recovery. My wife, however, hated the groups so much that we almost divorced over them. She could not fathom being married to an addict and to someone who has friends whom she claimed were "pedophiles." We found a Rabbi, and he restored our marriage; my wife is happy now, very happy, but the condition was that I should leave the groups, which I did 6 months ago. Instead, he told me to get a Kosher phone, which I did as well.
As long as the phone was "kosher," I was good, but my phone broke, and when I got a new phone, it was unlocked, and I fell many times. I am ashamed and sad about this. Yes, I'm still better off than I was, but I knew it would just be a matter of time before I get possessed by this addiction again, so I came back to GYE. There is so much here! I am very grateful, and I hope that the tools of GYE will suffice to keep me strong.
But I'd just like to give a shout-out about a few things that we can all learn from my story: (1) It's a powerful illustration of the incurable disease of addiction. (2) I strongly disagree with this Rabbi's ridiculous notion that all you need is a kosher phone. It cost me over three years of sobriety!