I have been fap and porn free for over 40 days now. Just this week, I have received two different job offers which were great. The messed up thing is, the first thing I thought about was fapping to porn in order to "celebrate". This has really shown me how strong the addiction is. I do not care what anyone sais, this is an addiction. Quitting cigarettes was easier than this.
Welcome @Noobranaut! As you say, addiction to porn (or to the dopamine produced by porn) is serious addiction and it should be treated accordingly. This is not a game, not a "guys thing". In the past I also used to "celebrate" with PMO. In the book that I'm reading now, The Porn Trap (http://amzn.to/1QS9l6g), the authors say that you establish a relationship with porn. So thinking in it as the other part of the relationship, it's only logical that we share both the good and the bad with IT. "Honey, I got the job". Only that "honey" is porn. "Honey, I had a terrible day at work today". Yes, you guessed right... There's an excellent post from William that I can't quote enough (extract): "Take a look at your hand. Literally, hold your hand up and look at it. Is that what you want to be married to for the rest of your life, is that what you want to come home to with good news, or bad? Is that what you want to take out to dinner and have vacations with? Your hand? If you have any chance of reconnecting with reality you have to destroy the addiction, destroy it. It will not be easy, and it won't be pretty, so plan on hard and ugly right now". Full post at http://www.nofap.com/forum/index.php?threads/galaxims-journal.20036/page-7#post-326754 I can suggest you to visit the Starter Kit, which is an unofficial compilation of step by step guides on where to begin and what to do: http://www.nofap.com/forum/index.php?threads/galaxims-journal.20036/page-8#post-330466 If you take this seriously, it's going to be really hard. You need a plan, a strong reason for quitting and to participate actively in the community. As soon as you can try to get yourself an accountability partner. Start documenting each action and each trigger, as to find a solution to a problem we have first to be able to know which is the problem. Take a look also at the documents on my signature. Some of them are my own, but most of them are key ones made by expert members of this community or the other reboot communities. Print them. Read them again. Take those documents wherever you go. Galaxim.
Hey, dude - realizing you wanted to MO to celebrate is actually an invaluable thing to uncover. You just exposed another possible trigger. And, maybe the dopamine rise from such good news triggered the addictive subpersonality to want more dopamine on demand. Yet, you indeed are rewiring and retraining the addict in all the other, beneficial, above-board ways that life can be enjoyed without PMO. Good going!
When our brain faces uncertainty, it often reverts to old patterns of behavior as a kind of security blanket, an old neural pathway that fosters a feeling of safety. In this case, you got a new job, which is exciting, but also may make you anxious and feel out of your comfort zone. Cue the urge to escape into porn. Your animal brain, when nervous and threatened, will revert to established escapes to avoid those feelings. It is saying "Why not look at porn to feel safe again?" All you have to do is laugh and say, "No thanks. I'll be fine."
