Once addicted always addicted? Your personal PoV

I think it's important to back up one step (not saying this isn't the right question it totally is what a great question to look at) first then answer this. I get to decide if I'm an addict. We tend to think of it in terms of truth, "either I am addicted to x y and/or z or I am not.". But really I choose every moment what I believe, where I will go, what ideas I am open to or not open to. That's not totally true, when acting out I was not going where I wanted to go I was going where I could act out, places I had not intended to go and did not like after feeling like I woke up there. "When I'm conscious I have a choice" and if I'm actively engaged in any addictions I'm not conscious. That's why not using pm+ feels so good: I'm much more often conscious.
So after seeing that it's a decision rather than a quest for the right answer then I see that I get to choose to either call myself an addict and act the way that would make sense if I were one of not. And I do, each day I ask myself if I want to stop using pm+ just for that day and it so happens my answer has been yes many days in a row plus I haven't had to use anyways despite wanting to stop which is the place I was in for quite a few years. And it really is just for that day, although at first I found it useful to keep it a lot simpler than all this.

 

I completely agree with this. Also, it is very important to get other elements of our lives in order because we always have the addiction in our background. e.g. Career, family, friends, health (physical and mental)... if something is missing from our lives we are likely going to come back to pmo. When you have your life in order you don't even have time to think of porn and masturbating. And most of us have either given up on some of things or try to justify not having them.
Also, we just have to let go of p and m forever. Even 'controlled' usage always leads back to full relapse at some point.

 

Addict not always an addict.

I was « addicted » to video games from the age of 6 to 17. 13 years later, memories sometimes resurface: I dream about it, find myself thinking about it or watching videos. However, the situation is under control. For example, I think about it 1 minute and move on with my day. Carefree.

By analogy, It would be the same with PMO. The brain is rewired. So, there is no path to move from words to deeds.

Conclusion: Recovery teach you to let go.

 

I'd say that once addicted it doesn't mean you will always be addicted. I remember I used to be addicted to smoking marijuana, but I started to get panic attacks every time I would smoke, so I stopped. I can say for a fact I am not longer addicted to marijuana.

The same with porn/masturbation. I think when someone really realizes how harmful masturbation truly is, then they will stop and no longer be addicted. When a person can really feel and understand and feel so bad about how lust negatively affected their life... then they won't be addicted anymore in my opinion.