Stop using counter anymore

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Using a counter made me think about PMO all the time. the counter put so much pressure on me for not relaspe.

People in the same case ?
 
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For many (including me) a counter gives a sense of achievement and goal.
The times I relapsed, I tried to break my record streak. I continued until the streaks became so long that the likelihood for relapse was smaller and smaller.

But we are all different, if a counter is not for you then try without.

good luck on your journey
Mdz
 
mdz said:
For many (including me) a counter gives a sense of achievement and goal.
The times I relapsed, I tried to break my record streak. I continued until the streaks became so long that the likelihood for relapse was smaller and smaller.

But we are all different, if a counter is not for you then try without.

good luck on your journey
Mdz
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A message from a 500+ Days is gold. I'll think about it again. Thanks for the reply.
 
mdz said:
For many (including me) a counter gives a sense of achievement and goal.
The times I relapsed, I tried to break my record streak. I continued until the streaks became so long that the likelihood for relapse was smaller and smaller.

But we are all different, if a counter is not for you then try without.

good luck on your journey
Mdz
Click to expand...

I agree, but for me also I don't think I could bear the shame of having to set the counter back to zero. 10 minutes of enjoyment for weeks and months of guilt is a big put off. Seeing a counter really helps me to visualise how big my achievement is, everyday it gets bigger. It keeps me going when I get urges
 
The only downside of the counter I experienced is that if I relapsed, I relapsed several days a row because I told myself that the counter is anyway low. Nowadays I use a journal, this solved my problem.

In the future I want to stop using a counter or journal too, but of course only when I consider myself 100% cured from the addiction and if I, therefore, see no sense anymore behind it.

Why does the counter makes you think about PMO all the time? That you give yourself pressure is important, fighting addiction is worth it, but it isnt easy and its a big challenge forevery onee of us here. A counter will help you track progress, but of course its not necessary. But if your streaks are shorter than around 2 or 3 weeks I recommend you using the counter.
 
I heard someone say (but I can't remember who) that every time they relapse they put a mark in the calendar. Even if they relapse, when they look back they see the time between relapses getting longer and longer. I think this is a good way of doing it. I pray that I don't relapse, but if I do then I'll likely do this.
 
I always thought the fact that you used a counter means that you are not actually doing nothing. Just don't think about it.
 
Nagual said:
The only downside of the counter I experienced is that if I relapsed, I relapsed several days a row because I told myself that the counter is anyway low. Nowadays I use a journal, this solved my problem.
Click to expand...

I made my own "counter" that is just an excel sheet where I put in the dates of relapses, and then it calculates the % of days clean since I started. If I was smart enough to program it into something I could use on here, I would.

The two big advantages are it shows progress as more than just the current number of days clean, and it makes it harder and harder as time goes on (and each day impacts the total percentage less).

Currently I'm at 99.38% clean since March 19, 2018
 
Tannhauser said:
The two big advantages are it shows progress as more than just the current number of days clean, and it makes it harder and harder as time goes on (and each day impacts the total percentage less).

Currently I'm at 99.38% clean since March 19, 2018
Click to expand...

Love it. Great Idea. let me find out how you can post it, I'm quite sure it would help others that aren't that are in the no counter camp
 
The counter gives me at least a little bit of a sense of accomplishment in this struggle. It may have played some small part in my avoidance of a relapse for the past 30+ days.
 
Tannhauser said:
I made my own "counter" that is just an excel sheet where I put in the dates of relapses, and then it calculates the % of days clean since I started. If I was smart enough to program it into something I could use on here, I would.

The two big advantages are it shows progress as more than just the current number of days clean, and it makes it harder and harder as time goes on (and each day impacts the total percentage less).

Currently I'm at 99.38% clean since March 19, 2018
Click to expand...

This is a super smart idea! It is more fair to be able to have a ratio of clean days vs total number of clean days in a row as the only measurement -
 
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