Welcome to it! It’s been dormant for quite a while but has some good nuggets. I should drop stuff here more often.
Hi MikeSeekingRecovery!
I too am struggling immensely (really only with porn, masturbation, and lustful thoughts - I couldn’t get a wife if my life depended on it! Probably for good reason). I keep resetting the app for my masturbation time after no longer than two weeks (and usually within a day).
I gave my life to the Lord two years ago but still struggle more than I can bear - it’s like what I imagine a heroin addiction to be like, and my experience has been FAR worse than alcohol withdrawal.
Can you PM me for that first step, and some of the things you’ve done since? Thanks, and I wish you well on your road of recovery!
Welcome @OK2BVulnerable
There’s a good number of people here recovering from porn. One of the active threads right now is this one, you may find some insights there:
PMO - Porn, Masturbation, Recovery
Personally I have found it helpful to work with my counsellor on some of the internal things that I have neglected, which are enabling the porn use, including my misunderstandings and neglect of healthy vulnerability, healthy attachment, and healthy intimacy (emotionally; all these things, we can learn and practice them in healthy family and friendship relationships). It has taken time and it is still a work in progress; as the old expression goes, if you walk a mile into the forest, you need to walk a mile out.
Part of it is also just determination and persistence. That voice to use will whisper in my ear. I use recovery friends (I was in a recovery group and still maintain those friendships), I use a mirror (or the selfie cam on my phone) and talk to myself (I repeat my determination: “I will not __”), I “move a muscle, change a thought” by going for a walk or changing my space. The urges always pass.
Thank you so much, Matt! I struggle with friendships with women (and occasionally men), but I feel like women baffle me and I don’t want to be their friend, despite knowing that sometimes I really need to be and nothing more.
Also, dating in the Church is really hard and limiting, so I’m trying to exercise patience there. After all, I’ve come to learn that everything happens:
A) according to God’s will
and
B) in God’s timing
Thanks, and have a blessed day.