90 Days to Wholeness: A Porn Addiction Recovery Devotional for WomenSample

Recovery is not overnight. Recovery is not meant to be quick. And recovery is not without some slips. In fact, slips are not only a common occurrence; they are somewhat expected. It’s important to distinguish between slips and relapses. Slips are short, few and far between lapses in sobriety and shouldn’t be seen as ruining the good you’ve done (though the enemy will want to use it to derail you into relapse). Relapses are a full-on fall back into old patterns for a longer period of time (binge-type behavior).

Slips can occur as a result of a couple different reasons and at different times in sobriety. 

1. Early-onset slips. When we are first starting out in our sobriety walk, it is common to slip up. Many times we don’t have a strong accountability structure in place yet, and they haven’t seen sobriety acted out for us. 
2. Late-onset slips. It might seem strange to think an addict could have achieved months and even years of sobriety and still end up slipping. But the most common reason for a late-onset slip is a lapse in accountability. When we have experienced long-term sobriety, it’s easy to let boundaries come down and believe we don’t need help anymore. So it’s important that no matter how strong you think you might be, to always be prepared.

Have you experienced a slip or a relapse after a long period of sobriety? What happened and how did you respond? If you do experience a slip or a relapse, what is your plan for getting back on track?