Went back after 6 month!

I have, multiple times.
Don’t view your journey in terms of days any longer is my advice. View it in terms of moments. You had a bad moment, don’t make it a bad hour,2 hours, days two day’s, bad week etc.

I relapsed today. Twice. Most I have in a long time but the important thing is to focus on long term growth. How are you doing compared to last year, how about the last 6 months before that?
That helps me. I’ve relapsed 100s of times and this year I had a good 5 months porn-free which is a big deal for me. I’m still struggling, I still have bad moments but I’m continuously focused on improving and staying accountable. That’s all you can do once you enter the long term recovery. I’m significantly better than I was when I started and that means something. Just don’t let up, don’t allow yourself to occasionally have some here and there, be strict yet forgiving if you slip up now and again.

 

I relapsed twice after 6 months Or so when I thought I had it beat. I’m currently 8months 3 days free from that relapse. It had been A struggle for 17 years in my life. I’m also married with 3 kids.

I have learned a lot in my struggle with porn. One, is what triggers me. A lot on the internet and tv triggered me(seeing beautiful women). I believe my last relapse was super bowl halftime show, I didn’t relapse that night, but like a week or two after it, but those images stayed with me and I kept wanting more, even after 6 months.

I also researched And watched videos of the science behind it all and it releases dopamine In your brain and scary how the addiction get you when I thought I could control it.

the ways I feel like I have conquered it for good was that I had my wife put in an adult filter password that I don’t know what it is(it could be a friend if you are not married). It’s my backup plan when having a bad day and can’t see the adult sites. I also don’t watch shows that could trigger me and try to turn my head if I think a scene is coming. More importantly though, I have really grown in my faith with God. I have listened to so many sermons on temptations and that has helped me tremendously. Rick Warren and Greg Laurie are 2 of my favorites and have helped me a ton!! I learned about all the garbage I was putting in my mind. The analogy was how we have to watch what we eat, we can’t eat McDonald’s fried food every meal without bad consequences, the same thing applies with what you consistently put in your mind. We are trying to undo years and years of bad addictions and it takes time to undo that.
“Above Inspiration” YouTube videos are great too. Give them a listen, it’s usually 10-20 min long. A good quote I heard on sermon, “ a warrior might not win every battle, but they never stop fighting.”

Hopefully this helps and try and learn as much as possible and avoid whatever gets you tempted and triggered. make it a lifestyle change and don’t beat yourself up if you have a relapse. Just learn from it and keep trying to do better. Porn free radio podcast by Matt Dobschuetz
I also told myself , I would help as many people possible struggling with this as I could once when I got it under control.

 

Well I guess if you feel like it didn't happen then just keep on going and don't do it again.

 

Ya I have. I just did a few weeks ago and it sort of spiraled me. What I've started to learn is that right when I relapsed, I immediately dove back into denial. I didn't want it to have happened and didn't want to believe I was falling to pornography again. That denial is what caused me to continue failing every few days after that.

Every relapse can be seen as either an opportunity to learn from, or an excuse to go back to step 1 and binge like we all used to. Obviously, the former is a better decision. Just learn from what happened and don't let it happen again. It's a lifelong battle, we can't ever let up on our fight for freedom. (Speaking to myself here as well).

 

Act as if you had a wet dream.
Otherwise you will start binging .

 

I relapsed this year after a streak. I tried to pretend it didn’t happen, but I knew it did. I felt awful, knowing I was at 0 again. I relapsed about three times over a period of about three weeks. Once I relapsed it gave me ‘mental permission’ to do it again. “Just one more time.” But it was making me depressed.

So I finally summoned the courage to stop and get a streak going again. Once I got past three weeks I knew I was going to be okay, and stopped thinking about the number of days. The weeks pass quickly. I’m doing well and my prior streak tells me I can do this, and for a long time. I’m feeling good now.