Established Personal Goals after Quitting Porn

Thanks for the stories and encouragement @whatishappening???

 

@Angus McGyver I'm reminded of how last year, I borrowed a MacGyver DVD from a friend just to watch the Good Knight MacGyver two-part that I had seen partially during a sick day in middle school.

BTW I'm glad you have a fair shot at life now. There is something just demonic about porn, and when you get away from it, good things start happening. It is certainly helping me with my faith.

 

That's pretty interesting. A lot of people, I guess, don't really have any explanation for their profile names. Preston is one of my many nicknames. Truth be told, I hate it when people call me that haha. It works for the profile name, though.

 

I have been waiting for a while to post this:

1&2: Two weeks of hard mode complete!
3. I don't know why alcohol and tobacco/vape are temptations for me. I've never tried either. I guess it's just my addictive personality.
4. I'm still growing closer to my Mom and Dad. I should be able to visit them and my brother later, this week.
5. Ordination is around the corner. My pastor has instructed me to have essays about my theology handy. Things are looking good
6. Social anxiety with girls is less of a problem, now. I'm not that nervous around them and am not afraid to talk to them, at this point. I'm growing to a point where I will be able to be in a relationship. I guess it will happen before I know it.
7. I'm growing more comfortable with myself. Again, nervousness is less of a problem. My true self is shining through more than ever.
8. I am starting to realize just how good God has been to me. I want to praise Him, rather than just ask Him for things. I'm more interested in learning the Bible than I could have imagined before. Things are looking altogether up!

 

Thanks for the insight and encouragement. Sounds like you have an interesting perspective. I relate to you in not viewing religion as a book of rules to be followed. I am always up for discussing religion via this site's messaging and posting system. I only ask that we agree on one thing: quitting porn. Much love from the USA brother

 

Which one was it again? Oh, the word study on "Pesha" transgression! I look kind of like that guy, too. I would never part my hair, though tbh. Never...

 

1&2: 17 days! Halfway through the third week!
3. My pastor talked about smoking, yesterday. I said that I would have done it if I weren't aware of the health risks. It was a strange conversation. At any rate, he seems set against it, which is a good example for me to follow.
4. I'm still growing closer to my Mom and Dad. I'm scheduled to visit them next week. Again, my pastor and I talked about how I left their home amidst conflict and being controlled. Guess that's another post, entirely.
5. With ordination around the corner, I am determined to be the man God wants me to be and realize that He is the only one who can make me into that person.
6. With that in mind, what I am really looking for in a girl is someone who wants to be the woman God wants her to be. How do I know if God is working in a woman's life, I wonder?
7. My true self is shining through more than ever. I'm learning who I am. When I let that nervousness dissolve, I realize how much I love communicating with people and just being genuine.
8. I really want to read my Bible and learn about God. These assignments that I have been completing are really for a purpose other than grades. I'm really learning about God and how to grow closer to Him.

 

1&2. 22 days of hard mode
3. I have come to accept that alcohol is not a sin if consumed in moderation. I am happy to avoid it, because I have an addiction problem. I don't know if I could avoid getting addicted, at this point, but there may come a time I could enjoy it responsibly. I don't know why, but tobacco is still a temptation for me. Vapes really aren't. They're kind of just something people do when smoking would be otherwise inconvenient.
4. As for growing closer to family, I am driving to meet them this evening, and heading back to where I live tomorrow. Maybe, I can give them some Christmas presents early! Interesting side story, a friend of mine stopped me at the counter a few days ago when I was buying stocking stuffers to give everyone today. His comment: "That chocolate is expensive!" Gosh, I felt like a generous snobbish fellow for a minute, there! [It wasn't that expensive haha! But I enjoyed the moment.]
5. Church is slow, considering it is the holiday season. I'm growing, though. I'm kind of my church's only college student, and I am getting to work with the soon to be released middle school crowd who wants to do a lock-in. I will really grow if I have to run one of those by myself
6. I am starting to see how silly it is that one of my major goals is to improve social anxiety regarding women. This day and age, people don't understand a guy that can't share his feelings with a girl. Unfortunately, I have been rejected and led on in the past. I can't share my feelings, even though I think the girl likes me, too. Not going to lie, I really want to. I try not to think about her rejecting me, but if she doesn't like me that way, better to go ahead and find out about it, right?
7. The Lord has delivered me from a very personal issue that I have had for a long time. I am growing much more comfortable with myself. I don't want to go into detail as to what that personal issue is, but I am so blessed that this dark cloud is on its way out.
8. I am starting to not only learn about God, but praise Him, too. He has really been so good to me!

 

One of the hardest things about growing closer to my family is that I'm changing and they're not. I come home from college every time a different and better man. They have started telling me, "Nothing has changed" when I go home. My mother especially says this, in reference to the conflict that still exists within my family. They start fights, knowing that it hurts me as an adult worse than it hurt me as a child. This time around, I went home with some of the biggest changes in my life having been made. I am getting ordained and graduating this spring. I am 23 days without PMO. I'm more confident in myself around people. Some of my cousins and I had the best conversations we have ever had, because I am not the immature guy that used to meander in his speech. They must see the changes in my life, but my nuclear family insist on existing in conflict, while trying to suck me into it. I feel defeated whenever I visit home, like my energy is being pressed out. I will get depressed if I don't head back, soon. I won't relapse, don't worry. Good thing I got called into work back where I'm from.