One Thing At a Time; Remember to Breathe

From Zenhabits

Breathe.

If you feel overwhelmed, breathe. It will calm you and release the tensions.

If you are worried about something coming up, or caught up in something that already happened, breathe. It will bring you back to the present.

If you are moving too fast, breathe. It will remind you to slow down, and enjoy life more.

Breathe, and enjoy each moment of this life. They’re too fleeting and few to waste.
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Its been a long time since i hit even 7 days of no PMO, i believe it was back in my second or third year of college but the one thing i remember that consistently help me on my path of recovery was practicing a sort of mindfulness to stay present, which lead me to a lot of breathing exercises.

When i am tempted to binge/act out sexually with porn my breathe becomes fast, I can't think of anything else, my stomach tightens up, its like a noose is steadily fastening around my neck. And of course, this feeling becomes unbearable to the point where i HAVE to PMO.

The simple trick to counter act this that worked for me was to notice when that tightening feeling was present and to slow down and breathe. Slow down and remember that whatever i think i about to accomplish with PMO is just a fantasy. Binging for 4 hours won't help whatever is pressing/stressing at work, won't help with anxiety around a potential date (or lack thereof), won't help with rejection, nothing.

From the same website above, there was an article on being fully present in everything you do, which i think the author mentioned to do one thing at a time. We find ourselves distracted 24/7 or trying to juggle multiple things at a time. We can never just do our laundry or work, we always have music, or a podcast, or something going on. Can't just take a shower, gotta have music, or scroll instagram ,or do this or do that.

Instead, do one thing at a time and with full focus. Instead of watching TV or whatever when you eat, put your full focus on the food. Taste it, the texture, the smell, the feeling, all that good stuff.

When you aren't cluttering you mental space up with 5 different tasks at once, you're headspace is clear and you will be more aware of when "autopilot" is about to take over and you want to act out.

Sometimes i'll find myself reading an article on line, while eating lunch, while playing music on my phone, while texting, while also thinking about that xyz that is gonna happen latter, oh yeah i should probably watch p***, really quick, but after i eat, but yeah i deff gotta do this and that, and deff watch p***, etc.

Well at least thats how it seems for me sometimes. Like a big jumble of thoughts...Its a lot easier to notice when i'm about to go on autopilot when i'm just reading my book.