Opportunity

When better to act out than when you have unaccountable time at your calling, not to mention a private room? Throw in a Wi-Fi connection and adult channels on the television and this makes for quite the “romantic” evening…for your addict, that is.

Access

Perhaps at home, you have family, familiar rituals, and work to keep you focused and occupied. You are more accountable. Going on a business trip, particularly if you travel alone, allows you the freedom to access all of the various channels you require to act out.

Change

A change in environment can be exciting, scary…but regardless, it is different. A change in scenery oftentimes wakes up your addict to indulge. “Wow, a new city. What or who can I see here?” “Who will ever know?”

Part of a successful sex addiction recovery involves building awareness of your potential pitfalls and developing plans to offset them. If you do travel and you do notice that being alone on the road triggers your acting out behavior, please consider these precautionary steps of action or a travel plan.

1. Schedule your free time

If your travel day is structured already during the day and you only need to concern yourself with the evenings, try to add structure to that part of your day. Make dinner plans with others. Make plans to talk or Skype with family. Go to a movie. Find something that not just takes the place of acting out time but something you may actually look forward to.

2. Be Accountable

Make your time and whereabouts known to family members, friends, or work colleagues. If you are in sex addiction recovery, such as personal counseling or groups, reach out to your help team. Let them know you’re traveling and need extra support.

3. Remove Obstacles

If you are staying in a hotel, have adult channels blocked so that you cannot purchase them. Consider blocking Wi-Fi if possible.

4. Do something nice for yourself or others

A big part of acting out on the road reflects feelings of loneliness or isolation, particularly from loved ones.  Remember the old saying: “When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping”? Maybe go out and buy your spouse and kids tokens of affection. If you are single, treat yourself to something cool — something that speaks to self-care perhaps.

5. Journal

It’s important to not just replace the behaviors with something else and trying to just stay chronically busy. I encourage my clients going through sex addiction recovery to journal and explore the feelings they have while they are away. Typical themes include feelings of loneliness, anxiety, opportunity (as in we can NOT take advantage of this).

Make your plan. Get out in front of this issue and try to get to the point where traveling becomes a less scary and opportunistic place for your acting out behavior.

For more help and to start your sex addiction recovery, contact us at Neulia Compulsion Solutions today.