We compulsive workers have found that no amount of will power or self-determination can make us stick to a sensible program of work for any permanent or lasting length of time.

We have found that self-reliance failed us. Self-reliance is good as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough. Some of us once had self-confidence, but it didn’t solve our work problem or any other problem fully.

We have felt a need and have been seeking an answer to our dilemma. We have realized that our work obsession is only the outward manifestation of our inner emotional turmoil and our essential spiritual disconnection.

We who are recovering from the destructive consequences of work addiction understand, as perhaps few others can, the fear, depression, anxiety, and loneliness of being a workaholic. We are learning that the praise we get from others, our desire to get ‘lost’ in our frantic behavior, and our sick sense of needing to avoid or accomplish goals, are all processes we use to escape the reality that we cannot completely control our life or our experience. We are learning that we can never get enough praise, money, or get enough accomplished to truly feel good about ourselves; that workaholism is a disease, and, like all other addictive diseases, it is progressive and fatal if not arrested.

We are also learning that recovery is possible. We learn to notice and identify our “bottom line” behavior. Unlike most chemical addictions, work addiction does not allow us to simply stop working and still survive. With Higher Power’s assistance, by defining our personal “bottom line” behaviors, we can begin to notice when we are actively using work, and we can stop and pray, or call a fellow recovering addict for support. We have experienced the healing of the Workaholics Anonymous Program.

Our stories share what we were like before recovery, how we got into recovery, and what we are like now. We hope you decide you want what we have and are willing to join us at meetings, reading our literature, and practicing our Steps of recovery. We now know that we deal with an obsession- cunning, and powerful. Without help, it is destined to overwhelm us. But we have come to rely on a Power greater than ourselves.