I keep having relapses, I hate this addiction

I'm trying to quit porn, like, completely, I want to be free from it. I want to escape from its grasp, and yes, a lot of media can be good, a lot of it can be bad, it's a double-edged sword. I hate the thoughts that creep into my head, it's been causing me anxiety, I hate this, and I don't know what to do to go cold turkey and stay that way. To make it worse, it's been affecting my mood adversely, and accounts for my being toxic and negative on the internet and to myself at work. I know a lot of people aren't fond of me or my recent comments, they've come across as vile, virulent and downright rude. That alone deserves another ban but I digress. Filters don't work, because they are very imperfect and can be bypassed, I just need to vent, mostly. I... don't know what to do to quit once and for all, the effects porn has on the brain aren't exactly comforting either.

I hate what porn addiction has done to me, how it exacerbates my stress and anxiety, and how it causes me to have image issues about myself as a person. I just... don't know what to do :cry:

I delete the files, I download them again, again and again, I want to break this cycle, I want to stop spiraling like this, like, starting now. I can't do this by myself, I need friends and family to overcome this.
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Are you seeing a counsellor or psychologist? You should be able to use cognitive behaviour therapy or something like that to help you treat it. Doesn't sound like the sort of thing you can solve with willpower alone.
 
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I think getting professional help is the best bet, but you could also have someone you trust put a filter "content control software" over your internet that you can't change without a password that they set and only they know hindering access to certain types of sites. Not sure this is possible with phones
 
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sleeping at appropriate times, getting yourself out of the hole getting your mind off of it. Cold showers help against it. keep your media in your living room I deal with it too. I sleep with an ice pack down there at times. Its said if you can last 2 months without doing something ul break a habbit. as it takes 2 months of doing something to make it a habbit.
 
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Lifting and exercise will make you tired enough to not want to do it.Also less sugary drinks and more water.Block out the people who give you anxiety by simply not listing to them.
 
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I remember when I was 20 years old I used to watch porn all the time. Six times every day. I didn't go out or even play the games that I bought.

I realized that I am watching porn alot because I am bored and has nothing to do or the new games I bought didn't excite me too much. Yes your life is boring hehe.

The solution is to find something else to do or fasting or call someone to visit. Or watch too much hehe until your balls hurts you that you won't watch again.

Or ice downstairs to cool down hehe.
 
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In all serious, for me what I did and worked perfectly was to slowly stop it.

Do not make stop in one time just make it less and less frequent and with time you will be able to just have your mind for that solo moment.

Myself I replaced it with something else.

(When I wanted to watch it I taken something like a pen and draw craps)

That sound easy but it not like any addiction :)


-- Also nah nothing against you or anyone here ~
 
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@the_randomizer I have this as well and trying to get free from it. While I can suggest somethings that gave me some extended time off of it, I still fall eventually
What I did was
1. Stay away from 9gag or social media (yea they post alot of nsfw material)
2. Try to find some new hobby to fill in the time you spent on those things

Where I fail is I eventually run out of things to do and visit social or 9gag and then fail from there
 
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I've tried filters, they're very flawed, the best filter is the person. Software filters can be bypassed with VPNs or proxies. The problem is me, not the internet, but I just need help from others, friends, family, are how I'm going to defeat the issue. Filters are a mere band aid but don't really fix the problem deep down IMO. I do know of a couple of therapists, one lives in my neighborhood, and is also a very very good friend of our family.
 
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With some addictions its better to phase them out instead of quiting to avoid the worst sideeffects, at least in the beginning and when its more manageble you can quit. Start watching it every 2-3 daythen once a week, then once eveey 2 weeks etc etc. But it might not work for you, so if it dosent, get some pro help. Good luck.
 
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You can easily stop watching porn now if you want it is not that difficult.

Just don't visit porn websites. I mean there are alot of shows to watch or games to play.

Imagine yourself as a fat guy and you want to lose weight that you fast every day to lose it.
 
Filters aren't perfect, but it's worth applying them if you're struggling. If only to remind you.
There are some apps like nofap that can help you with reminding too.
You can also find several 12 step groups that have online and possibly local meetings.
 
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Can you speak some on how you came to the conclusion that you were addicted to porn? Also why you decided cutting it out entirely rather then developing a healthy relationship with the concept is the better path?
 
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This will be a different answer, so bear with me.

"Consciousness illuminates whatsoever is in its proximity. It is like a light which shines on everything that is nearby. We light a lamp, and instantly everything within us near to consciousness is illuminated. And it is with this illumination that the trouble begins. Try to understand it like this: when there is no light, it is dark and nothing is visible. Then a lamp is lit. If the light of the lamp had any consciousness, it would be under the illusion that all that became visible by illumination, is part of the lamp itself. The light would be under the impression that all that became illuminated by itself, is not separate from it, because 'When I am not, it is not there, things only exist when I am there.'

It is the same with consciousness. If there was no consciousness, there would be no mind, nor the intellect, nor the senses - nothing! Everything comes into existence for you with the emergence of consciousness. If you undergo an operation, a deep layer of unconsciousness is created around your consciousness so that you will not feel pain even if your hand is amputated, because the light of the lamp which illuminated all this is covered with unconsciousness.

So consciousness, illuminating anything that is close to it, becomes identified with it. Because of this proximity, it feels that "I myself am this. This is the whole mistake with identification, and then we start behaving according to whatsoever it is that we have identified ourselves with. For example, we breathe, if our consciousness leaves the body, our breathing will leave too. So consciousness identifies "When I am, breathing is, and when I am not, breathing is not. So I must be the breathing itself, I myself am the breathing." But this is not true, you have never taken a breath, breathing happens on its own. If it were up to you, you would've forgotten to breathe and died. Same with all your bodily operations.

And when you go deeper into it, so is the mind. A person is possessed by sexual desire; if he thinks that he is doing it, he is mistaken. It is just happening. This too is nothing more than a few glands, some fluids being released in the glands. Before a certain age when you wouldn't have these glands, there would be no sexual desire. You are not the creator of even your sexual desires, and that is why it is very difficult to get rid of them.

If you had been the creator of your sexual desires, then there would be no difficulty, "I don't want this", and it would be finished. But you go on saying that you will not have any sexual desire and still it goes on arising, it doesn't leave you. Why? If you are the doer, the creator, then where is the difficulty?

The difficulty is that you are not the doer, and believing yourself to be the doer, you get into double trouble. First you consider yourself to be the doer, then because of it you think that if you wish, you can be the controller also. You think, "I am myself the doer, and I can stop sexual desire if I wish to." But it doesn't stop; you can neither arouse it nor can you stop it. Does that mean you can never get rid of sexual desire? Yes, you can be free of it this very moment.

If the feeling of the doer vanishes, and if you remain only a witness, then you are freed from desire. Desire remains on one side, the mechanism remains separate from it, and you stand aloof; a gap happens in between.

One more thing needs to be understood. You are not even the doer with regard to this mechanism, but your presence, just your presence, alone is enough for it to function. The sun when it rises in the morning makes no effort to open each bud individually. Perhaps it is not even aware of how many flowers have bloomed because of it. It is not the creator of all this, still it could not have happened without the sun. There is no effort, yet it is needed for it to happen.

Science accepts one fact called a "catalytic agent". A simple example would be, water is only made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, but yet you can't make water with only that which it is made out of. You need electricity, the electricity here is the catalytic agent. Same way with your consciousness. It simply means that the phenomenon cannot happen without it being present, and yet it is not doing anything.

But this creates the illusion of being a doer - "If something could not happen without me, then I am the doer" - because we only understand two concepts in our minds: firstly, "If I am the doer, then things happen", and secondly, "If I am not, then they don't happen." So the natural conclusion is that "I am the doer".

We don't know the third dimension at all, when only the presence of consciousness works. When we assume the role of the doer because of this presence, then this becomes our bondage. If this presence remains an unidentified presence, then that is the witness. We only need to know that we are the witness, that things happen in our presence, but we are not the doer. When this is understood, a distance is then created between ourselves and our mechanisms.

Then many profound things happen because of this unidentified presence. For instance, your sex center may try to assert itself, but if you remain a witness, it will not be able to. Because as soon as you become the witness, you are disconnected from the sex center. As soon as you are the witness, you have receded back into yourself and you have distanced yourself from your sex center. The proximity of the presence necessary, the sun necessary for blooming, is disconnected, unavailable. The sex center can remain throbbing and calling, the sex glands can continue asking for sex, but your presence is unavailable.

That is why some amazing things happen. You are sitting there, full of sexual desire, your mind totally absorbed in it, and suddenly someone shouts that your house is on fire. Why is it that your sexual desire vanishes from the mind within a split second? - because the consciousness moves from there and becomes connected to the thought of the house being on fire. Otherwise try and separating your mind from sexual desire and you will know that it doesn't work! And I know you know this! But the moment an emergency arises, even though it may be a false alarm, the whole mechanism of your sexual desire comes to a standstill; you forget about it and it is finished.

What happened? The presence of your consciousness shifted. Freedom from sexual desire is not attained through effort, it is attained through effortless witnessing, because you are not a doer."

I have done this and succeeded, you can too. All you have to do is grow the witness. Start small, witness your breathing. Notice how it breathes without your so called 'doing'. If you get caught in the illusion and then begin to take a breath in and breathe out 'manually', again try to be a witness. Don't do anything at all, no tension of doing, nothing. Just see, notice the breathing happening.
Then go a step further and further. See your actions. Witness yourself playing a game, your "muscle memory", this time witness it happening and don't get immersed. You will realize by and by you are not the doer. Try this with your sexual desiring. Remain a witness to it all, the experience, the five senses, the body, the thoughts, witness it all, aloof from it all. At first you will have to imagine it somewhat, but by and by this distance is created and the truth of the so called doer and experiencer is realized.

From there, there will still be sexuality, but it is no longer a desire to make you a slave. Now you are the master and you can indulge in it whenever for fun, not out of compulsion. ;)
 
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I'm going through Varicocele myself. It's not cancer, but it really can kill self esteem. You really start to feel less than a man attimes.
 
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I would love to say that it's not that hard to quit and that addiction it's just about habit, but I can see this is been going for a very long time...
Go search some professional help ASAP, don't be ashamed to talk about it, there are pepole that can surerly help you better than some random dude on the internet.
 
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