This exercise may be obvious to many sex addicts but for the benefit of those who have never read anything about sexual addiction recovery, this exercise must be discussed. Cleaning house at the beginning of your recovery will save you from the terrible experience of keeping that "one" magazine or video that could possibly cause you to relapse. Many sex addicts that I have counseled had their first relapse with "the one I didn't throw away." To prevent this experience from happening, it is imperative to throw away (don't try to sell or inflict this material on anyone else) any item that could cause you to relapse. For some sex addicts, this will be a magazine, a video, an article of clothes or possibly a computer disk. To clean house a little bit further you may want to consider canceling cable television, internet access, magazine subscriptions or any other material that could be a threat to your sobriety during the first 90 days of your recovery. In the beginning of your recovery, it is much better to error on the side of being too cautious than to error on the side of not being cautious enough. Some of these more restrictive boundaries can be changed to be less restrictive in the future when your recovery is not as fragile as it is in the beginning. This exercise can be a great beginning for your recovery. If you feel you need help to clean your house (not only where you live, but your office and the car) of materials so that you don't feel pulled into acting out with hidden material, you may want to ask a friend or support group member who has some stable sobriety or possibly your spouse or partner if they can be supportive through this exercise. For some sex addicts, cleaning house is a new beginning. It's a time you mark as the beginning of your journey. This is a great way to start your recovery and remove some of the possibilities for future stumbles.

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