A few thoughts on our attitude towards succeeding

This idea has probably been spoken about before but a refresher is always good. First off, my name is Matt, I'm 20 years old, come from Scotland and for the last couple years I've struggle with masturbation and porn addiction. I want to write about how I feel we should approach this problem because I think many will go about it the wrong way, fail, and let the pressure build which makes it all the more difficult next time.

For many of us this has become the central struggle of our life and how we approach this struggle is demonstrative of our mindstate and attitude towards adversity. I think the problem lies in that we make of this problem such a massive deal. It prevents us from taking the next step in our life and we view victory over it as necessary before we can progress on with other avenues and pursuits that attract us. Thus, it becomes the biggest thing in our life and what we live to try and defeat. The fact of the matter is though, we are human not robots, and we cannot be happy living a war.

So when all we do is think about the next battle, the one after that, and the one after that - we lose hope, relapse and fall back into the pit. Which is why I feel we have to work with ourselves rather than against ourselves. A better approach is not to think of this as a battle. All of us have gotten to where we are by mistake. If we knew the cost we would have probably walked a different path, an easier one, but it's OK. Don't hope for anything more than what you have, for what you have is an opportunity to become greater than those who will never face themselves in the same extremity in which we do.

“Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.”
- Musashi Miyamoto

I definitely have more to say on the topic, but what I've realised is making myself happy is number one. So I'm going to go and chill the fuck out for a while and do stuff that is going to have a positive impact on my life. When the other facets of this ragged and unrefined strand of my thoughts come to the fore, I'll write again in an attempt to 1) help others, and 2) memorise this so that I don't drift and forget.

One last thing before I hit "Submit New Thread". I see a lot of posts with the tone of "I am x, y and z" (x/y/z all being negative). You need to stop saying that. That was the previous version of yourself, that was 10 minutes ago, 5 hours ago, 1 day ago, perhaps even a week ago. If you decide to change right now for the better then you have to accept that change right now. From now on you say "I used to be x, y and z". If you can admit to other people your old weaknesses then they truly are old weaknesses. They belong in the past.


I'd wish you nofappers luck, but luck isn't necessary. If any of you would like to contribute with thoughts of your own that are similar I'd welcome an open discussion to help develop my own opinions. Peace out