We did it before. We can do it again!

Hi all,

I am here to declare a new beginning. I am starting a new reboot. I have a lengthy success story posted on YBOP and I was really happy with where I was. It took a long time, but after 120+ days I was achieving rock hard, consistent erections with my ex. Then I got complacent and read my worst enemy - written erotica - and went got a new flatline. Since then (April 2013), I have been struggling to stay away from porn or masturbation.

I left the country in June 2013 for a while and didn't keep up with my 12-step program (SA) and lost a lot of recovery and time. The day before I left, I actually PMO'd (had been watching but not MOing - didn't make a diff). Then I didn't have access to porn so I went about 2 and a half months on hard mode. Then I found that I could use a sneaky way to get pornographic material on a common social network. All this while I was studying in a highly spiritual place. My addiction was too much and I wasn't using all my tools (SA). I came back and was scared about erection status. Then I had sex my with ex the first night I got back. No problems at all. Had a lot of fun in fact. Then we kept going back and forth between being lovers and hating each other (not healthy), I was out of my program because I was both too egotistical and too afraid to be honest with what I had been doing and start again.

I also have been so reluctant to start a new "reboot" b/c I know how hard the withdrawals, flatlines and emotions/anxiety can be at times, especially the very beginning. Also, I was scared that I may meet a girl while in flatline and am scared to be embarrassed if PIED kicked in. Crazy backwards thinking, I know. So I would sneak porn and think it wouldn't affect me. Well it did. The last time I had sex with my ex, we didn't wear a condom and she is no longer on the pill. We had a pregnancy scare that scared the crap out of both of us. We didn't try to have sex for a few weeks.

Then in December, I was really drunk leaving a club alone and was lured by a man posing as a limo driver in a limo. He took me to an empty parking lot and tried to kiss me. I was too drunk to realize what was going on. Also, a part of me remembered about the random encounters I had ashamedly experienced in the past and just went with it. He tried to suck me to completion, but I couldn't get hard. After a ling time of this, I finished myself off while having a "flaccid erection." I hope this is not too vulgar or triggering. I remember him trying to pull my pants off and have his way with me, but me struggling to push him off. That's the last thing I remember. Later, I woke up in a car with a random woman not knowing how I got there. My ex picked me up and we went to the police to file a report and to the trauma center to get treatment for potential rape. They didn't find anything. Still this incident really scared me and rehashed a lot of anxiety with sex.

My ex wanted to have sex a couple of weeks later and I was shaking from anxiety and couldn't get an erection. This was the last time we tried to have sex, even though we were active orally a few times after that. Instead of going back to SA and recommitting myself, I starting reading erotica again of rape, gay and incest. I was PMOing again, but trying to stop. Then in Feb the anxiety was too much and I stopped. Since then I have continued my inconsistent behavior. Sometimes just MOing sometimes just P, but both keeping me far from peace and serenity. I can't even remember how many streaks I had in that time. In July I PMO'd and decided to reboot again, but haven't been able to get more than a week if that. I have not been taking it seriously.

Now, I am tired of this shit again. No failed attempts, just tired of being slave to my pre-frontal cortex. I went back to SA and am making calls again and am going to start as if I've never been in the program. I'm starting over again. That was on Monday after I had spent Sun night and Mon afternoon on CL looking at ads. I've pretty much gone through my whole childhood/young adulthood again in the last year. I hate it. Yet, I am grateful because I know there is a good reason for all of it. I know I will be stronger. The time is now be'H! Then yesterday I "stumbled" on some porn on another social networking site as I can find the darkest point in the web or real life. My computer dies so couldn't go any further.

Then today, I charged by comp and that stuff was the first thing to load. I spent another long time looking at it. I'm tired of it!!! I want to start over again and that's what I'm doing. Yet, my brain tries to trick me by imagining my ex, who I still talk to and want to marry her, even though we both know it's over, going out and meeting guys. Or banging guys. Or having a 3-some with one of out mutual girlfriends this weekend at a wedding I wasn't invited to. The I feel low and want to self-medicate. Then I look at CL ads and want to contact an older woman looking for a bunch of young guys for you know what. Then I start thinking about massage parlors. Then I look into them. Then I feel bad and realize I will feel bad and shouldn't be spending my money on this stuff. Especially since I know how destructive this all is from my spiritual learning and time in SA. So here I am. Begging for a new beginning. Willing to do whatever it takes.

My biggest Achilles heal is my own withdrawal symptoms and my obsessive, non-sensical thoughts about my ex and my other girlfriends and other dudes who don't have this problem and can bang girls all they want an my resentment goes towards them, while my self-worth/image decrees towards myself. The ONLY way to beat this out is to reboot on hard mode, take it one day at a time, be patient, and wait for The Source to bring me to a loving, committed relationship. That's what I really want anyways and the kind of relationship I really strive in. Everything else is all imaginations that never match up to my expectations. Only thing I can do is focus on myself and deal with the pain it takes to get better. I know I will be!!

So that is my last 15 months in a nutshell. For today, I am committed to staying free from PMO, sexual fantasy and relationship/sex crazy for the next 24 hours. Cheers!
 
Also here is the link to my initial run of recover that was very successful and lasted 145 days.
http://www.yourbrainrebalanced.com/index.php?topic=6895.msg107720#msg107720
 
Day 14:

So today is 14 days since I last looked at porn. I am so grateful to be here right now. My life is so amazing and I can't believe I have been given this great chance. I am also proud that I finally decided to start all over. I am approaching it like a newbie and it is working well. The truth is that it is really like riding a bike. The past progress doesn't just go away. All the lessons and thought processes were just hiding right under the surface; waiting for me to recommit myself and give myself up to my Higher Power again. I am on the threshold of something beautiful and amazing and successful and I am so excited. All I have is today, however, and today is a good day. It is right before Yom Kippur and I am happy to be here with a clean conscious. Two years ago I lost my sobriety with my phone in between RH and YK. Last year I was out of the program and had had sex with my ex the day I got back from the most amazing experience of my life. This year the energy has been set and the actions, thoughts, emotions and words are all there. Above all the willingness is there!!! I am so grateful. It is ONE DAY AT A TIME!!

Also, today I am grateful that me and my 16 y/o brother decided together to install covenant eyes on our phones so we are held accountable to each other for the websites we visit. I'm so proud of him. The Source has blessed him to be the person he is today and the person he will continue to grow into. I'm especially grateful b/c I just got a brand new phone for the 1st time in 4 years. Needless to say the last phone was  BIG problem for me (apps, sites, erotica, IG, twitter, FB). I do not want that to happen to this new, "clean" phone. I am doing the necessary steps to prevent that. Knowing my brother and best friend will be reported for any inappropriate sites I visit is huge. All I want is to be sober from PM and lust for the next 24 hours. Then we will worry about then.

As far as personally, I am sooooo grateful. I am working for a wonderful boss serving people in my community in the highest possible way. I am starting a business that my Higher Power will really be running and using me and my business partners as the Sliakhs. I met a dude yesterday at starbucks who is a singer. I chatted him up on it and told him our website. He was so excited, B"H!! He wants to be a part of it, spread it to others and even wants to help us w/ feedback, developing ideas. He said he just wants to pick our brain and be around this kind of thing. B"H!!! This is so cool. Also, B"H, I got into the MERP program (med school) as my "back-up." Really though, I want to be an entrepreneur and use all of the gifts and skills I have been given to use in full use in kedusha. Above all I want to be a GIVER!!! I don't want to be a receiver or a needy person. I want to give to others and to myself.

My relationship with Megan is great as well. I still get paranoid with irrational thoughts of her going out and being crazy sexual, which is never true, a projection, and always seems to come around when I MYSELF am having thoughts of doing things contrary to my sobriety, recovery and faith. I have to admit though that I have a negative FEAR that is holding me back. It is an inner fear of whether or not I can do the job of being an executive in a web-based company. I don't believe in myself the way my Higher Power does and the way I should and I get subconscious feelings of low self-worth and doubt which lead to imaginations of things that can go wrong such as being called out by investors, having my CTO bail on us with the idea, not being successful. Really, they are all fake, as I am imagining things that are not real and thinking about the future. All I have to worry about RIGHT NOW is stuffing in as much teshuvah before YK as I can and getting ready for the big 25 hours of AMAZINGNESS!!! I surrender my right to worry about my company. I surrender my right to control my company. I surrender my right to think about why Mike hasn't returned my text on meeting up. All of that stuff is imaginations based on my own disbelief in myself and lack of confidence. I'm DOING GREAT!! This is gonna be the best year yet! That's the truth. Those are not imaginations; that is REALITY, B"H!!! All I have to do is keep taking one step at a time, one day at a time, be patient, let people be themselves and do the work they need to do, not judge, and above all stay HAPPY AND GRATEFUL at all times!!! Of course, I have to practice healthy SELF-LOVE and believe in myself. I'm excited and grateful right now. Thank you Boray Olam for this great gift!!!

All the best to everyone here and everyone who is still suffering in silence without knowing where to turn. May you all be sealed for life, good, sweetness, health, recovery, emunah, happiness, gratitude, growth, success and everything your heart desires for the very very best.
 
Well 28 days so far, BH!! Feeling great. Business is coming along nice. I am focused. Coming out of my flatline which lasted for 2-3 weeks. Waking up w/ MW. Getting the jazz going again. Main thing is taking it one day at a time. I can't handle any more than that. Here's to another 24 hours.

Cheers
 
Stay strong dude. I'm dealing with a flatline that's starting earlier than expected. Hoping it's over with soon.

Here's to greeting tomorrow.
 
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