Fantasy Addiction

Characteristics of Fantasy Addiction

Not Conference Approved.

Brand new draft Characteristics of Fantasy Addiction – any feedback?

1 We confuse fantasy with authentic hope in living. We attach our needs for love, healing, intimacy, and growth to people or scenarios about which we compulsively fantasize.

2 We experience emotional instability in relation to the misalignment between reality and our fantasies.

3 We allow fantasies to become the Higher Power of our lives. We set our compulsive fantasies up on a pedestal and focus on them, losing sight of reality as a way to control pain, fear, and low self-esteem.

4 In fantasy, we lose precious time, interests, and energy in our lives as they are consumed into the vacuum of our addict’s making.

5 Our lives become unmanageable and stagnant as we are immobilized by our fantasies, risking serious consequences.

6 Who we are, our development, and all of our aspirations are held hostage by the fantasies of our supplier addict.

7 We live each day in internal conflict between our fantasies and the real world, which leaves us vulnerable to continual acting out!

8 Our interactions with the objects of our fantasies, seen through the lens of our distorted needs, are unrealistic. We disregard who they really are, ignoring their boundaries and needs.

9 We experience deep pain and debilitating disappointment when our fantasies are not met, especially when we have to face the realities we live in.

10 We become angry and feel rejected when the objects of our fantasies don’t live up to our expectations, and we realize they have their own lives and may not reciprocate our obsession for them.

11 We react poorly as we feel defeated when our fantasies are exposed, and the resulting anxiety and depression rob us of our joy and hope.

12 Due to our intense longing for deep connection, we live within our fantasies, oblivious to their true nature and distraction, robbing us of all the blessings of life, shackling us to a life of addiction.

Promises of Healing Fantasy Addiction

Not Conference Approved

  1. We will no longer turn to fantasy as a way to avoid our pain.
  2. We will replace fantasy with reality, accepting that fantasy is a liar that steals our true life and growth.
  3. As we learn to face reality we foster wholeness, authenticity, and healthy connection to our true selves and others.
  4. Inner turmoil disappears as we give up trying to align our real lives with our fantasies, relying on our Higher Power for serenity.
  5. Emotional stability will return or be present for the first time in our lives.
  6. We will recover our serenity, integrity, and purpose as we follow our Higher Power’s will.
  7. We will let go of shame and isolation.
  8. We will live in reality, making meaningful contributions to ourselves and others in healthy and sober relationships.
  9. With newfound security in recovery, we will face our feelings and reconcile our hopes, expectations, fears, and disappointments in healthy, realistic ways.
  10. In dealing with others, we learn to respect and honor their independence from us.
  11. We will develop the courage to be present and ask for help and support from our Higher Power and our fellowship in meeting our real needs.
  12. We will learn to love and respect ourselves.

Readings for Meetings

Romantic Obsession

Our Members highly recommend reading the Romantic Obsession Pamphlet every day as part of your program until the obsession lifts. You can download the pamphlet for only 99 cents from SLAA’s Digital Literature Store.

You can also learn about Romantic Obsession from this page of readings provided by SLAA’s San Antonio Intergroup.

My Drug of Choice Was Fantasy

Female Fantasy Addict, Anonymous, page 11 theJournal Magazine #192 here

Personal Experience and Recovery around Fantasy

Page 23 various members short shares. Page 24 share by female fantasy addict (LA, USA)

Gratitude for 20 Years in SLAA share by male love and fantasy addict (LA USA)

See theJournal Magazine Free Outreach Edition here

Sharing Time and Attention With Another Human Being

Female Romantic Fantasy Addict, NJ, USA

Page 9 & 10 theJournal Magazine #167 here

A Sober Dating Plan helps me Recognize Unavailability

Female Fantasy Addict, LA, USA

Page 13 & 14 theJournal Magazine #167 here

Might as Well face It, I’m Addicted to Love

Male Love & Fantasy Addict, UK

Page 22 & 23 theJournal Magazine #167 here

Fantasy vs Reality

TheJournal
Issue #147 – Fantasy vs. Reality

Fantasy focused meetings

Please join the closed WhatsApp Group for members recovering from fantasy addiction for the most current list of virtual meetings held online.

You can also find online meetings on our Notice Board and on the SLAA FWS Website.

Fantasy Meeting Scripts

The Fantasy Addiction Group shares the slides it screenshares in meetings here for other Groups to copy and improve for their own Meetings.

Fantasy Addiction WhatsApp Group

To join our WhatsApp Group, ask the Helpline here, and provide your first name and the initial of your surname and your location (just the Country and/or State).

Other Member Experience Strength and Hope

Not SLAA approved. Content is the opinions of the members themselves and not SLAA FWS, SLAAvirtual Intergroup or any Fantasy Focused SLAA Group

Romantic Fantasy Kicked My Butt – a SLAA Member’s Story

Jane, Inventorying Fantasy from Getting Started in SLAA

Anonymous Happy Joyous & Free in SLAA

SLAA Daily Meditation

We highly recommend buying the State of Grace: Daily Mediations from Amazon as a way to connect with Reality and a Higher Power on a Daily Basis.

For an example on the topic of fantasy:

August 25
FANTASY

Through mutual sharing, we had come to know [triggering individuals] as human beings, and their stories had exploded many a fantasy we could have trumped up about them. Myths about their addictive desirability had been dispelled before our very eyes. Our interactions with others were becoming more authentic and mutual. – S.L.A.A. Basic Text, Page 146

Unicorns, Martians, and talking lions filled the pages of all my childhood books. I hid out in them to escape the scary reality of my life. My thoughts were always full of wild hopes and dreams of a better, drastically different world. Children are supposed to dream. But when these thoughts carry into adulthood and distract us from having any real purpose in life, they cross over into addiction. Obsessing about unavailable people is living in fantasyland. I can’t have an authentic relationship with a figment of my imagination. I need to actually listen to the other person and hear what they are saying, instead of idealizing them and overlooking bad behavior. I must watch out for playing mind reader, too. A mutual exchange of ideas is the only way for me to live in reality. Fear of conflict can keep me in fantasyland for years. One day at a time, I need to confront problems as they come and clear them out before they become full-blown fantasy worlds in my head and I’m paralyzed by the fantasy. Fantasyland can be a warm, comfortable place. So who would choose harsh reality? The only way out for me is to realize that my addiction can get to me more easily there and will pull me out into an even more harsh reality.

I will do my best to live in reality today and not get pulled in by the sirens’ call of fantasy.

Re-publication of 300 words or fewer of Works of Conference-approved literature may occur without permission from F.W.S. For more information see here.

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