Barrier Breach #1 : Reaction to stimulus

Hey guys!

Barrier Breach is a series I started to effectively counter urges and triggers by creating and focusing on barriers. This will help you not only to stop your addiction, but also helps in developing self-control. This results in not only beating your addiction, but, also in productivity in various other aspects of your daily life.

So, today’s post is about reaction to stimulus. Let’s begin shall we?

I am pretty sure that many of you remember your very first Biology classes, don’t you? In biology 101, you probably remember a very familiar term, stimulus. So, what is stimulus?

For this let's ask the all-knowing Google for a better definition.

a stimulus (plural stimuli) is a detectable change in the internal or external environment.

So, if you remember correctly, you'll probably find this very easy. From the definition above, all you've to do is equate the detectable change in the internal or external environment with triggers or urges.

You know the familiar battle your mind has when an urge hits, right? you force it to subside, and this is not a very good tactic. I don't remember the post which I read on NoFap, so, the author who suggested this should please come forward.

Right, back to business. So, you know the phrase, "fight fire with fire" right? Well, when you try to subside an urge, you're effectively utilizing all your resources and willpower to push it away.
This is actually really counter-intuitive as you keep your brain thinking about not fapping, which, in turn, leads you to relapse afterward. So, to counter this particular issue, you need to use fire, ie. your passions, or what I like to call, anchors.
what are anchors, then? anchors are in and of itself, the very reason, the very essence of why you want to stop.
Now, I want you to perform a very simple exercise.I want you, in your mind, to list out the 5 most important things that are the reason why you want to stop. So, now you're probably thinking, "well, I already know that".
But, the trick is utilizing this properly. These are the anchors that should be hard-wired to your brain. The tile of this post sums it all up. Your reaction to the stimulus (ie. urges/triggers) must be instantaneous. It should be lightning-fast. You should hard-wire your brain to show these anchors in your mind whenever an urge or trigger strikes. Therefore, you can now effectively fight fire with fire.

This can only be brought up by real-life applications. What I mean is, this ability can only be brought up by utilizing it when an urge hits, therefore, making you better and better as time goes on.

Personally, my anchors are:
i) I'm an incredibly talented guy, so, why am I wasting my time and my resources in something this useless?
ii) people look up to me because of anchor one. So, why let them down?
iii) my spirituality
iv) my family
v) my friends

Well, that's that. Make your own list of anchors, and train your brain by remembering it at all times. Remember to keep it short and simple.

And that's the end of Barrier Breach #1 : reaction to stimulus. I'm a 15 year old fighting hard against addiction, and the methods I learn, I talk about in the series. Your likes would help me a lot and would help others to know about it.
If you have any comment, contribution, or question, don't forget to leave it below, and I'll try my level best to keep these series updated. Until next time, have a good one.

Cheers,
Hyperaktiv

 

Taqwa,
Thanks for the reply, mate. Really appreciate it. Also, thanks for the tip, I'll make sure to follow it.