The Lord of the Rings Challenge

483 days high king
552 days no PMO, semen retention

 

Wake up before 4am
2 months already waking up before 4am I have to say this sleep schedule is amazing I didn't lose time with girls or doing stupid things at night at least I kept my sleep sacred and my early mornings too.

I've been able to be in a relationship and having little talk with the girl during the day because she's working and when she is free I'm already asleep. So we usually just send two or three short text during the day and interact mostly face to face.

But I'm not afraid of not interacting enough with her. Because sleep, my mind is more important than her. She can leave at any moment even do she looks in love.

But me, my discipline my mind are always there for me no matter what. Even my mundane success in life is bigger than a girl, spirituality is bigger than anything the world can offer me.

And giving up the night and less interaction with the world to go to bed early has giving me nothing more than joy and a lot of confidence.

 

Day 250 no PMO. I’m halfway home for this challenge and it feels good! This challenge, and your posts every day, have been so helpful to me. I just come here every morning to read all you guys have shared and you give me the wisdom and strength to go another day. I’m starting to feel like I will make it to 500 but also fear “what’s next?” after I make it could be a problem.

 

Day 8

 

Checking in. Went to dinner with a friend after work yesterday. We ended up drinking quite a lot of alcohol and then we went out to a night club afterwards. Approached some girls and made out with a girl I didn't find that attractive. Not my proudest moment perhaps, but life can be goofy sometimes and I don't always need to take things so seriously. Tonight I'm going to a Halloween party, it's nice that I can be social and have fun even though I've been struggling lately with PMO binging.

Cool that you're also doing it. I just started so I'm a complete beginner but I hope to be able to build a habit of practicing it often for many years to come. I'm taking IRL classes from a very experienced lady in my city who has dedicated her life to qigong and taiji. It's good for me to take IRL classes so someone can correct the subtle mistakes I'm constantly making when doing the movements. Please let us know how things progress for you in this area

 

Day 6. Feeling good today. My urges have actually not been that bad. I am happy with my progress so far and looking forward to making some more. I am realizing more and more that this very well could take a many years for me to over come this addiction. It has been a year since I have watched porn and the desire is still there, although in a much less extreme form than a year ago. I have been struggling with this addiction for 6 years now and I feel like I am finally starting to pull it out by its roots. I am so grateful for this community and the support that I have found on here.

 

Stay vigilant and carefully work your action plan (as I call it) especially for the next couple weeks.

 

My counter indicates days free of m and psubs. 359 days p-free. The free porn is illegal. Actually, I am not saying that my psubs were as well, but I will remind myself if they were not, which will help.

 

That's awesome! I absolutely agree, there are certain things that just cannot be tweaked without a proper live instructor. Perhaps in the months to come I will follow your path and look for someone to teach me directly. Real life interaction is always better as well. My aspiration for Qi Gong is to simply add the full 8 brocade to my morning stretch warm up, the rest of my training is weight lifting , cardio and more mobility work at the end of the day. I will keep you posted as I go and please do the same, I'm very curious.

https://www.shihengyi.online this is the website of the person I learn from.

 

Checking in Fellowship!

Day 354 days free of Porn and 282 days free of MO.

I've been doing well, regular day to day to chores, workout and meditation.

As our dear brother @RiseToGreatness does, I would like to also share part of a post that may assist along your journeys. The topic is applied to addiction as a whole. Full post is here : https://www.mediavsreality.com/mediavsreality2/2021/9/1/how-to-avoid-a-relapse-as-a-porn-addict

"Rationalisation is the most insidious trick that addiction pulls on addicts. You create a story in your mind and you justify the behaviour. On some level you know the story you’ve told yourself is bullshit, but on another level you want to believe this story.

Rationalisation occurs with all addictive supernormal stimuli: Pornography, video games and eating sugary foods. Each of these modern addictive products have one thing in common: they all mimic our evolutionary desires. Because your brain believes engaging in these habits is evolutionarily beneficial, it will create a story that encourages you to do so.

The rationalisation will carry with it a logic that seems to make sense: It’s ok to eat Mcdonalds twice a week. Lots of people do it, it’s normal. I’ll burn off the calories later at the gym. Cooking is time-consuming and I’m a busy person. These rationalisations appear to be logical, but in reality these are stories your brain creates because it wants the sugar and fat inside the burger.

Porn addicts have their own set of stories that lead to a relapse: Watching porn is a normal thing to do. I’m just going to browse and not masturbate. I’m exploring my sexuality by watching lots of different genres. I’m single right now, so what am I supposed to do. I’ll watch one more time, then stop for good.

Learn to watch for rationalisations. Once the pattern of rationalisation beings, you can hit the off switch and break the cycle. Say “NOPE” out loud to yourself, or immediately leave your room and go outside (pulling up your trousers first if necessary)."


Stay strong!

 

Day 106

 

I didn't click the link, so I can't advocate for or against it, but I wanted to say this: It is excellent that you folks are working on your bodies. I think it's a great part of recovering from anything addictive or compulsive. As for me, I just want to start by getting into the simple habit of doing some type of exercise at least 5 days a week for half an hour at a time.

 

To combat rationalizations, dispute them. Get out a sheet of paper and write down the false belief or irrational thought. Then write down your rebuttal, or perhaps more than one. Like this for example:

Irrational Belief: I just want this for now. One time won't hurt.

Disputing: Every time I have tried "just one for now" I have lapsed more and/or relapsed. One time does hurt, every time. [I can list types of people it hurts, ways it hurts,... .] The whole point of quitting was, well, to quit, not to prolong the torment.

Et cetera.

I hope this helps. Peace!

 

Day 2 - Relapsed

I think I'm in a rut. I'm just really struggling to deal with urges lately. I'm relapsing to urges that are maybe medium intensity at most which usually I'd be able to deal with by just using distractions, which is also the issue because I'm not even trying to distract myself, if anything I'm thinking of what I'll relapse to instead of even trying to be introspective. I don't know what's up with me lately, I feel like I'm not even trying. My effort seems to be a gradual increase overtime, the longer the streak the more effort I put in, hence why I'm much more likely to relapse early on because I'm just not really putting up a fight when I get urges, I'm just giving into it really quickly with very little if any effort to distract myself or process the urge in a healthy manner.

I went out shopping with my Mum after I relapsed to get myself out of that negative headspace. I'm obviously still upset but I have to pick myself up otherwise this will just keep happening.

 

Day 88 !

This streak is a blessing, however temptations are glooming, I must remain on track !

 

Day 13 on my path of reboot

 

Water fast
Day 5/7

Almost finishing day 5 and starting day 6. I did some running and calisthenics. Also I'm starting to add weights again to keep good quality muscle. Since I started the fast I lost 6cm of my waist which is mostly where I lost weight.

Now I feel my mind is more clear and sharp like the fasting has improve my mental capacity, the mind is more fast than before the fast and more clear.

The body now feels very loose and relaxed. Still no desire to eat. Energy levels are high compare to yesterday.

 

Saturday check in. Good so far.