40 days... but lots of negative feeelings

Congratulations on the 40 days! You just need to do productive things that will make you feel like you've accomplished something. That's the only thing that helps me. Boredom is the one thing you want to avoid at all costs; an idle mind is the devil's playground. There will always be some shitty days of depression in everybody's reboot, but always remember how much worse you'd feel if you caved in and had a PMO. Depression coupled with no PMO is a lesser evil than PMO with the subsequent relapse-induced depression, which is usually far worse than the reboot depression.

Keep on keepin' on, man! We're all in this together, and we can make it!

 

That is a fantastic achievement, you should feel really great about what you've done!

There is no magic bullet I'm afraid... It's the same advice and probably just keep doing what you've already been doing. (The stuff people always talk about on here... Go to the gym, meditate every day, get fresh air, eat well, sleep well, cold showers etc)

Mindfulness is everything for the first few months, watching yourself, observing, looking out for and after yourself. This way you are likely to know if you need to turn recovery up a bit for yourself or not.

Keep a journal, this will force you to stay aware and pay attention and empower you to have more autonomy over your urges and drives. It is also motivating as you can see the natural ebb and flow of your recovery and on shit days you can read back over better days.

If you need to amp up your recovery try:
* Connecting with others, check in with a sponsor or accountability partner or even a mate.
* Read read read, the more you understand recovery the better chance you have a of sticking with your plan. I have become fascinated with psychology and have devoured a number of books which have led me to not only getting some good recovery but also even considering a career change to become a addiction therapist!
* Most importantly WORK YOUR plan, if you haven't got one, write one now. You need a 'why'. A big enough and strong enough reason why you want to quit porn. Building this into an actual plan with reasons, feelings, thoughts and consequences will keep it fresh and very real. If you have a weaker day or a wobble, get your plan out and you'll be surprised how much stronger you will feel.

I always say, recovery is not linear, white knuckling this shit never works and edging always leads to relapse.

The best thing about a plan is you can add to it, update ot as you grow and learn. If you make.mistakes, build it into your plan. EG if you find you relapse late at night, or when working from home or after you've watched a certain TV show add a rule to your plan and make a commitment to keep yourself safe.
Your plan will constantly evolve as you do and will be something useful that you can always pull out if you need to (I suggest every morning first thing for the first few months)

This is about more than just not looking at porn. Abstinence is not fun. And you may feel challenged or even miserable. We do not want this. Becoming porn free is about much more than that, it is about getting your life back and that is not miserable at all.
So you need big things, strong things, real reasons and very tangible feelings that reasonate with you deeply.

Throw yourself into your self improvement.