First milestone reached: 30 days

Background:
I'm a 23 year old male. I started watching pornography at around 12 years old. When I was 15 I started watching it on a daily basis.
I discovered I had a problem when I met my gf at 21, when we first wanted to have sex I couldn't get an erection. I achieved my first big streak around a year ago, when I got to 60 days PMO free. After that my PIED decreased and I was able to have good sex, but soon after having sex the chaser effect kicked in and I had a relapse.
Since then its been a year full of failed attempts, never reaching more than 2 weeks free. So I decided to focus again on rebooting, implementing more strategies than in the past.

So far I've gone 30 days without PMO, my second biggest streak in my journey. My goal is to make this a new lifestyle for me. I want to be completely honest with my experience and the changes I have seen. They're not extraordinary, but they are real changes for the positive.

Benefits:

• Productivity

Before: My day consisted of watching internet videos, surfing social media and having sexual fantasies. No other hobbies or goals. I felt like a zombie going through life.

After: I have started new habits, I've read more books and finished reading some that I had left unfinished. I do daily walks and haven't stopped doing them. I've been practicing a new language, and piano (I hadn't practiced piano in 10 years). I'm still not a productivity monster but I have actually done things that add value to my life, and it feels gratifying and fulfilling.

• Pleasure for little things

Before: In the last year and a half, I've become bored of music. It was just unappealing, and didn't cause any good reaction in me, although I know I really like music.

After: I noticed that I found music way more enjoyable. It felt not like just listening to it, but actually feeling the music. It filled me with energy and happiness. I payed more attention to the small details in the songs.

• Motivation

Before: I felt uninspired, and didn't feel like doing anything of value.

After: I have motivation to improve myself, I know that I'm capable of that and my new habits are proof of it. I have the motivation to keep up with them.

Advice:
You need to completely quit porn forever. That's the only truth, if you secretly hope that in the future you will be able to watch porn without it being a problem, you're still porn's prisoner. You have to change your mindset and say goodbye to it forever, you don't need it, it just causes you harm.

One of the most important things you can do is to start building up new habits to replace your addiction. Start with something you know you can do every single day. If you put yourself crazy goals or want to do many at a time you're just making it more difficult for yourself. I started building my habits with daily walking, it is something I knew I could do daily without any resistance, and it also has a lot of physical and mental benefits. From there I started adding slowly other habits like reading or playing piano.

Keep reading nofap stories or information, also videos about porn addiction. This has helped me to keep my mind on track of my goals. It also helps with the motivation. Last time I failed and had a big relapse was because after sometime you start feeling better, so you don't give it as much importance. You must be really focused on the first months.

I also found that starting a recovery journal helps, it keeps you motivated and keeps reboot as a priority in your mind.

Here is a resource that I found useful:

Universal man channel in Youtube from Mark Queppet.
https://www.youtube.com/user/SacredSexualityVlog
It has a series of videos on sexual recovery that are really complete and informative, its one of the best I've found.

 

Just keep focus on your goal, everyday visit nofap to keep on track and you will accomplish it!