First Reboot Progress Report from a Lifer

I’m 40, and started around 14, with what was basically the advent of the internet. I also have worked in the industry for about half my life, and had not considered it an issue until I was confronted with my addiction during a recent loving breakup. It really clicked for me at that time — I’d been masturbating daily to videos I didn’t even care about anymore, struggling to keep an erection, and sometimes even falling asleep in the process, at my desk, feeling deeply unsatisfied and empty.

So I found you guys and have been lurking a bit during the first six days of my 30-day reboot.

My reboot is a no-PM reboot. I wish to continue to function for my partners, but I am not allowing myself to view porn, or masturbate at all.

I’m very excited at one small glimpse of progress — on my morning of day 6, morning wood! For the first time since probably my mid-30s!

Having read a lot of threads here, I realize that I’m in for some difficult times and probably more than one flatline, but this is a moment of hope for me.

I was so burned out and desensitized by porn that I wasn’t ever getting casual erections or morning wood anymore, and already I’ve had a glimpse of recovery, just from laying off the porn and masturbation, pretty fast after starting my reboot. So thank you all for providing a framework. It is helping.