While I have slipped up a few times during this 8-weeks, I am 100 per cent confident I will never watch porn again, because the last time was so very boring.
Like an alcoholic who has a beer after they stop over years and thinks it tasted like piss, I feel the same way about porn. It’s a very poor substitute.
I want to tell guys who are starting out in NoFap, it is possible.
So, I’ve been 8 weeks free. The first question you must be asking – what’s it like. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Week 1, I was going through withdrawal. Mostly panic attacks and insomnia. I was able to get through all of these by saying, this is just my brain’s way of healing.
Week 2, my 10 year fight with depression started to subside, and now it is completely gone for the most part. I’m still having moments of anger for things that happened in my life, because porn is no longer medicating me, but forgiveness and understanding comes quickly now.
Week 3, better short-term memory, concentration and energy. From this time to now, I’ve worked on a 40+ page screenplay for a video game, working on the area drawings, got my life together, been more engaging with my girlfriend – in fact as soon as I have the money – I’m getting her an engagement ring and we will be marrying next year.
I’ve also feel that I have a ministry to help men who need help with porn addiction to find freedom by educating them on the dangers of porn use, and to help them be role models for the next generation as porn becomes more tempting and harder to get rid of in their lives. I feel education is a great deterrent to porn use. At 13, someone gave me a cigarette. When I took a puff, I felt my lungs burn a bit and I coughed big time. I thought, this is probably why people get lung cancer, and that was my first and last cigarette because I knew the education. It’s time for us to educate the next generation and be role models so they will not fall in the same pits we did!
By week 5, my girlfriend and I were successful in making love again.
My strategy to finding porn freedom was the following.
Education. Going to www.yourbrainonporn.com educated me on what was happening, and why I never could keep porn under control until now. Once I learned my reward system was shrinking because of too much dopamine, and so did my frontal lobe, I decided to follow some of these things.
Second, to help with my frontal lobe and reward system, I decided to prayer and read the Bible as a form of meditation. I hope this doesn’t offend others – this was my choice. Meditation can be anything you want it to be – it could be just sitting down and watching clouds flow by and imagine all the different shapes in them. . . For people who do follow, sometimes you feel, Why isn’t God just taking the cravings away from me, it would be so much easier. 2nd Corinthians 12 helped me on that, because Paul said that there was a thorn in his side, a demonic messenger, and he asked God 3 times to help him, and God said, my grace is sufficient, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness. All spirituality helps with the Frontal Lobe, because all spirituality comes from that centre of the brain. The more spiritual you become, the more open to the universe you become, the more it helps your frontal lobe.
Third, good old fashioned cold showers. Our brains produce dopamine when we are willing to go through a uncomfortable or fearful experience. The same reason we laugh and shout on a roller coaster is why cold showers also produce lots of dopamine. If your brain wants dopamine, give it what it wants, take a cold shower for 3-5 minutes!
Four, getting involved in a community of recovering addicts to help your recovery. It may be NoFap reddit community. It may be www.rebootnation.org but get help from former addicts. Their stories can help you. Alcoholics go to AA for help because members help each other, and so should you.
Five, branch out socially. Since my recovery, I spend more time with my brother. We are going to movies more often, and we spend almost every weekend relaxing and joking around. I also have a better relationship with my girlfriend. If you have one, or are close to a girl, spend time with them. You may have PIED or PIDE, but that doesn’t prevent holding hands, kissing, hugging, looking into each other’s eyes, talking the night away.
Six, goal setting. Have a number of short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals. The day badges on this group is a great short-term goal – if you take it day-to-day. Every day, take time out to feel great about you went 24 hours without porn. But if you don’t replace porn with a life you want, porn will come back. That is where the mid-term and long-term goals come from. That’s where the screenplay and work on video game levels come from for me – it’s part of the life I really want to live, that porn was taking away.
Seven, exercise! I go swimming with my girlfriend practically every single day now!
I almost guarantee – meditating, taking cold showers, having goals, spending time with friends, exercising, finding a recovery community and educating yourself – and you will be at week 8 and you will have no desire to watch porn ever again, because it will cost you too much!
I’m 41 years old and I used porn for 28 years.
LINK – 8 Weeks of Freedom
by Porn_Freedom
UPDATE
ED has definitely disappeared. My fiancé will lie in bed with her top off and I’m already getting excited. . .
UPDATE
I’ve been addicted to porn for around 30+ years. I’ve notice I’m much more confident now, more competitive at work, I take things much less personally.
It was 90 days ago today when I watched porn for the last time. I decided, on that day never again.
I always had a couple of weeks as a streak, a few times, it was nearly or more than a month. But not like this ‘streak’.
The last time, I took my first step into a new life. I asked myself, are you going to be this week for the rest of your life? Then I answered, no never again!
I made that decision, and for the first month it was tough. The second month was more tough. But every strong craving, I was here posting up something, instead of giving in.
The the third month came, and all I have to say is it freed my brain. I feel unlike any other time in my life. Sex is awesome. Life is awesome. I walk around with a puffed up chest like I own the place I walk in. I have never felt so freed from shame in my life!
Freedom from porn is so much more than sexual freedom, it is true freedom! It can be yours. Just get angry and say, never again!
LINK – 90 days!
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