The Lord of the Rings Challenge

keep fighting. What techniques do you normally use to ground yourself and stop obsession? Reach out if you need to talk

 

Remember your past victories and defeats!! Remember the void of defeat, and the joy of victory!!

You're a rational guy, see how stupid it is to fall in this, you want to feel like sh*t again? Or you want to keep walking towards freedom?
Yo want to be a slave again? Think brother don't let the stupid arguments of your brain wanting dopamine seduce you!!

 

Checking in, so tired. I need a 3 day weekend. Staying offline as much as possible today.

 

You are correct brother, it is implied in the beginning of his quote. "You are what you repeatedly do", if you strive for a goal you consider great, then you must set yourself up with habits that support, said goal. If you partake in habits that are self-destructive, you are setting yourself up for a difficult path. In either case, it brings the control back in your hands. This may be a bitter truth for some but also hope filled truth for others. As for what is to be considered great, well, I believe that is arbitrary.

 

Stay strong brother, you are not alone. We are here with you in spirit and in numbers!

 

Yeah brother, sapienti sat , but how many of us are not that much sapienti, so making thing to be seen from another angle may help somebody to dig it. What do you think about the strength of mind of Aristotle comparing to the bunch of average Joes who might think that it is practice that makes perfect and not the right/ practice and they can die without even realizing their ignorance in understanding.

...and my 2 cents says that greatness is not a habit but a state...and it's in knowing who you are, in knowing what you are capable of, in living life your way- allowing yourself to develop in love and faith.

 

Day 172

My family and I are probably with COVID so we have to stay at home for a few days...
I'm not a ppl guy really.. but lately Im feeling like I really want to meet new ppl, specially girls, so I may finally get a gf.
So being trapped in my house it's giving me a little bit of this "urge state" (AKA feeling horny).
To fight this I'm doing exercise and productive stuff. I'm also tempted to play videogames and watch dumb videos. If I play videogames I'll be waker to PMO forces, also my life will be much worse by gaming itself.

 

I do pray and meditate, and actually I'm about to move soon if I can lol. Let's hope that helps!

 

It's time to use the Stinger to cut those urges then, the fellowship is with you

 

Day 24

A busy day but also a weird one, quite often I find myself considering relapsing or just considering the prospect of what the PMO experience would be like after a period of abstinence. Obviously I don’t want to indulge these thoughts but more often than not I find I’m having to remind myself why I wanted to quit PMO in the first place.

I’m sure this feeling will continue but I’m finding it quite scary how my brain is almost rationalising a relapse and having to fight urges rather than just ignore them - does anyone else experience this or something similar to this? I remember feeling a similar way when I relapsed last year, I’m curious if it’s an effect of abstinence that only manifests after several weeks, or possibly just withdrawal?

 

Thanks for your wise advice. I get inspired when I see people like you with 170+ days without PMO. Your avatar fits you perfectly.

 

Keep going, which each relapse you learn something. Which each attack you can see the trick of the ring and how to better protect you from it. Think about it you only don't have to put you the ring. For me until now the best weapon is, do not to think about the ring at all, block my mind and continue vigilant. Like when Dean had Miguel inside his head (Supernatural)

 

Day 7: tomorrow I'll stop being an Orc. Still "do not think" about the ring is working for me.

 

Nobody is born wise my friend, it is something we cultivate through our own experience in life and through what we practice daily. It is also implied in the quote that it is practice of what is "right", but this is also arbitrary, and I'm not talking about the obvious right/wrong here.


Although the level of distractions we are facing today, well, is probably not comparable to what they were back then. However, that does not mean that everyone can achieve his level of mind, but why place a limiting belief on someone in their quest, if that is their goal?

"Do not think that what is hard for you to master is humanly impossible; and if it is humanly possible, consider it to be within your reach.” -Marcus Aurelius

Greatness is the fruit of habit and a state of self is the fruit of habit. Knowing who you are, knowing what you are capable of, living life your way, finding out what is your way of life, developing yourself in love and faith are all the fruits of your habits. If someone follows a path of ignorance in their life, this is also a fruit of their habits. Any form of cultivation is a habit.

I would like to mention again, I personally believe greatness is arbitrary. We all have differing goals in life, this is what makes the human experience unique.

 

Checking in

Anger took me over today. Every little thing was a reason for my mind to get angry. Funny is that I could see how foolish this was. I listened to myself and observed the anger, anyways it didn't go away and I kept getting furios with no import stuff. I guess it's a withdrawl effect...
I just fear that this triggers me to PMO, cuz today I searched for topics that weren't fishing itself, but which I knew that it would had led me to fish.
Gonna do some mindfulness exercise right before bed and search for wisdom to avoid acting in this anger, but any advice is welcome! If you know something about dealing with anger, please share!

 

Day 3 complete.

Not too bad. I've had some minor urges to search for porn, but when those occur, I very deliberately refocus on what I'm supposed to be doing at the moment. One of the biggest things holding me back might be fear. It's very easy to be afraid of the urges, to have a mindset of not being able to beat them and a reset being inevitable. This thought process is self-fulfilling, but more importantly, it is false. These urges, this addiction, can be overcome, by grace and faith. "You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel."

Sts. Cyril and Methodius, pray for us! (And for peace in Ukraine as well.)

 

Day 344

 

Day 42 complete.

I had a temptation to look at P or MO, in a long time, usualy I just want sex. I am kinda sick again. And I am sick of being sick, I feel unstable if I can get sick that easily. I should put my foundation in God.

 

Day 2

I had a very exhausting day at work today. Management makes such dumb decisions and always finds a way to make things harder… You know what I really need? To work for myself! It’s not quite time yet though. All will come to fruition in due time.

I’m gonna have to accept that I have to rest my foot a lot this week. I can still listen to my audio books, but I should probably take a bit of time off walking. Walking around the store today I was borderline limping.

I can feel I’ve been running out of steam today. I haven’t gotten a full nights sleep in a couple days and that doesn't mix well with the mind-numbing nature of my job. It sort-of enhances it because I either end up standing in one spot all day or moving around non-stop. I find them both exhausting in different ways and I especially feel it if I don’t get enough sleep or eat enough. I think I will let myself sleep in slightly tomorrow.

I ran into a friend quite a few times today. He told me another friend has Parkinson’s. I don’t know much about Parkinson’s and I don’t think I know how to feel about all this yet? It hasn’t really hit me what this could really mean.

I also ran into another friend. He says he and another friend are still feeling negative effects from the booster shot. He took that thing many months ago! I’m glad I never took the vaccine. I just felt intuitively to stay away from it. The irony is that many of the people who have taken it that I know have gotten way more sick than I ever did. I just hope all ends up okay for them… They are good people.

In terms of nofap I’ve had a certain level of urge, but it’s very deep and ingrained… Almost more like my brain feels something is incomplete as I haven’t masturbated to porn and thus a certain daily cycle must be completed. Of course it is wrong about that because: “I don’t need porn!”

I’m just going to do my affirmations and get ready for bed I think.

 

Day 4
Going to start my day with a strong cup of coffee.
I feel very happy today, and there's a reason for that. I managed to remove instagram rom my life. I had been courting a young female over social media, and although I was successful, it was just horrible. That girl is not happy..man. She active like every 5-10 mins on social media and is constantly uploading something or other. I started getting hooked on her reels where she'd leave ambiguous hints. While I was hooked to her daily posts on all social media, she was hooked to the measley validation i offered. It was a toxic cycle and I'm glad I'm out of it, not sure about her... she's still there.