200 days

A little celebration post from me as finally reaching 200 days, for me it is by far the longest streak I have ever had in all these abstaining years. For now, I do not feel like coming back to porn, there are no cravings, I just work and study, and it keeps me abstained from this (also previous painful life experiences which remind me why I even started), therefore, going super strong and confident - with each day it becomes easier, trust me.
What changed:

• Confidence, not afraid to speak
• I do not objectify women anymore, I even start to hate/dislike/frown at those overly sexualized women (type of women where their biggest asset are their asses - you get the point).
• Jokes are more natural now
• Easy to socialize
• More energetic
• Being the leader more often
• Deeper voice (I love it so much )
• Started to enjoy my own company more - long walks around the park with my favorite playlist after work is just the perfect combo (also, this is a great meditation and time to think and re-think)
• Recently I had not willing to date or give chances to women but recently in the bar met a girl with which I spent hours talking, really enjoyed her company and I started to understand that I want to start slowly dating (had a breakup more than a year ago) and I have settled maybe a little too much and missing a lot right now. Right now I do not feel like jumping into the action but slowly I can start trying.

What I am working on right now:

• Control my anger and keep it to myself more often. I started to show my boundaries too agressively
• Start to exercise more to keep my physical health (I have a sedentary work cycle)

Anyways, hurray, 200 days!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask, I will be happy to answer as I do not know what each of you is more interested in and I can not cover everything in one single post

 

I am happy to hear that you are not giving up. It is indeed a very hard challenge that requires a lot of determination. One can try and drop this challenge and live miserably but you chose to keep fighting and I want to already congratulate you on this!. I have relapsed countless times but it just makes you stronger, no one ever learned to be a master of something without failing, maybe this is the streak that will carry you to great results, only you know and you can control. You will reach it. I know it.
My tips are:

• Find a hobby - so you can keep yourself busy
• Start exercising or going for a walk whenever you feel like relapsing

Basically - keep yourself busy for the first months, later it becomes a lot easier day by day. Good luck, you will make it !

 

Happy to hear and see that you still going strong. I have never had ED but flatlines occasionally kick in and especially they were noticeable in the first days, for a few weeks. As time flies by you start to ignore that flatline and move on and you just start to live as it is, you even do not notice it, it is how you simply feel but it gets better for sure Later they appear for a few days and disappear.

 

This streak is the actual day count. After the ~30-40 days, I lost my cravings but those cravings were almost minimal because mentally I was too tired to relapse again, and somehow by remembering that miserable life period I rewired my brain to hate porn.

 

I had a situation a bit opposite than yours, where I talked non-stop even when there was no necessity. I even tried to keep dead conversations, therefore making them a bit awkward. But now I started to observe more and to talk when I have to say something (somehow this came naturally) and when you say confidentially what you want/need to say, people tend to listen more. I think it will come to you as days go by.

 

Thank you!
There were sometimes thoughts like "maybe it's not that bad" or there is a porn meme on the internet that tempts but all the time I just forced myself to close the page/move forward and just to remind myself that this is a big mistake. Psychologically it is not easier to distance yourself from PM, it requires less effort but basically because of previous pain in life caused by PMO It somehow just clicked for me that this [PMO] is not what I want. So much is achieved and experienced differently now in this period that it just seems so stupid and not tempting anymore, real life has become more tempting.
It is all on a psychological level, you need to reinforce the reason why you started, remind yourself of pain which was caused by this, that misery. Set yourself a goal, do not set specific streak days, set life achievement goals, and strive for them. Meet your friends more often, get out of your comfort zone and keep yourself busy - this approach helped me previously to avoid the first urges in the first days and also. Good luck!