I have been a porn addict for years… i feel like this has destroyed my whole life, my career, my relationships, my health, everything.
I have tried many times to stop this habit and relapsing but never have i succeeded. I need to get back and enjoy the real pleasurable things of life and be healthy. Everytime i try and relapse and it gets even worse. Now this addiction is actively stoping me from doing anything productive as i spend almost all the free time watching porn and masturbating.
But i think this time i will do it. Please suggest me what to do and share your experiences and tips. It will mean a lot to me
Welcome Fizzlebomber. This forum can be a very helpful place to heal ourselves and become strong. We lean on each other and learn from our mutual successes and mistakes.
One thing that has worked well for me is checking in early in the day to let everyone know I am committed to my sobriety with them for the next 24 hours. ODAAT
Hi Anirudh and welcome,
My addiction is alcohol so I cannot say much about your kind of addiction beside some simularities:
Try to find distractions, get yourself active with other things like exercize, walking, vollunteering somewhere, etc. And take babysteps: focus on today and today only and getting trough that day without using.
I would like to ask @KevinesKay to assist here if he has the time and is willing to do so He has the same addiction as you.
You need to put blocks in place, if you use your phone then buy a dumb phone and factory reset your current one so that if you’re tempted it’s a faff to reinstall and gives you time to reconsider
If it’s via computer then make sure you have blockers in place but again if you don’t really need it factory reset it for a while, you may have to pay for theml blockers but it’s probably worth it
Attend meetings if there are any near you also if a good idea
Hey, thanks for posting your story. Reminders like that are good for people who have a lot of days under their belt but forgot about how bad it can get. Best tip is you need to find something better than the porn, that the porn interferes with if indulged. For example, if I was watching porn and masturbating all the time, it would severely interfere with the relationship I have with my wife (which is really, really good. I love her to death). I work on the marriage, the life we’ll have as parents soon, and honestly the thoughts disappear and it’s as if I’m cured - but it’s something I have to put into every day. I’m not saying a woman will solve your problems, but trying to maintain really important, strong intimate relationships will probably help. Plus, it is not a secret for me either, the people closest to me know I am on this journey. They mostly think it’s dumb or not worth the trouble, but whatever I’m doing it seems to keep me from being a puppet, and provide me with me the best life I’ve really ever had. So good luck, and don’t give up! If you slip, it’s not like you’re destined to never figure it out eventually. Best regards.
And I can totally relate to everything that you shared. I’ve been there. Trying hard to stop yet just getting worse.
For me, it’s been helpful to see my acting out behavior as a symptom of deeper rooted problems within me. I know so because I just couldn’t stop. It was clear my more deep rooted problems were working against me and sabotaging my conscious decision to quit.
One such problem that comes to mind is my lack of connection. They say that the opposite of addiction is connection. Early on, I made several attempts to fulfill my need for connection, but I didn’t succeed until I joined a 12-step group, SAA. I have other connections now. One being this community. And despite not really being a people person, I accept the fact that I need people and connection. For me, I define connection as people that are encouraging my personal growth. This addresses a big root problem; a far bigger one than my porn use.
He has the same addiction as you.