How Shall We Escape?

[Phineas 808]

Hi, Escape! Thank you for your comments.

Definitely, counting days can be 'counter-productive'. My goal is to always come to a place where I no longer need to count days, once I accomplish an abstinence challenge. For me, hitting 0 doesn't mean starting over, but in the bigger picture, it may mean that extra vigilance is needed to not rehabitualize the former behaviors. My goal is to leave this crap behind me, and to just live life, which means not counting day by day, but perhaps checking in once in a while, and saying, "Oh great, it's been 285 days since I last used!"- and go on...

I do have a probationary counter of 30 days, if I lapsed after hitting my goals. If I meet that period without further incident, I'll simply go on without counting. But if I lapsed again (re-lapse) within that 30 days, then that means I'd have to meet another 90-day abstinence challenge. That's what occurred for me after my 139 day streak.

Yes, definitely, the 'porn is not an option mindest' is the only way to go. We can keep this quote in front of us:

99% is a bitch, 100% is a breeze. ~ Jack Canfield

Or,

There is a difference between interest and commitment.
When you’re interested in doing something,
you do it only when it’s convenient.
When you’re committed to something,
you accept no excuses, only results.

~ Ken Blanchard

The dopamine levels acquired through porn are akin to heroine, and so one hit is all it may take to want to repeat the high..., so after a lengthy time of abstinence, it's best to just walk away. How hard folk kick themselves when they were Scott free, and then played around a little, and found themselves where they started.

 

[Escapeandnevercomeback]

Definitely, counting days can be 'counter-productive'. My goal is to always come to a place where I no longer need to count days, once I accomplish an abstinence challenge. For me, hitting 0 doesn't mean starting over, but in the bigger picture, it may mean that extra vigilance is needed to not rehabitualize the former behaviors. My goal is to leave this crap behind me, and to just live life, which means not counting day by day, but perhaps checking in once in a while, and saying, "Oh great, it's been 285 days since I last used!"- and go on...

You know, people have confirmed through experience that the urges, craving, thinking of porn go away but at this point my brain can't even image how it would be like to wake up in the morning and maybe realize by the evening "Hey, I haven't been thinking about porn all day." Because my day starts with porn flashbacks and end with them. Reaching that point where porn leaves me alone is the goal to die for.

Yes, definitely, the 'porn is not an option mindest' is the only way to go.

No porn no matter what even for 5 minutes. If porn is the beast, dopamine is how we feed it. I like to call it "dopamine of porn". This addiction can be starved to death but it can't be starved while feeding it.

The dopamine levels acquired through porn are akin to heroine, and so one hit is all it may take to want to repeat the high..., so after a lengthy time of abstinence, it's best to just walk away. How hard folk kick themselves when they were Scott free, and then played around a little, and found themselves where they started.

I always thought that porn is like a mix of cocaine and heroin. More like getting high on cocaine or maybe meth and then doing heroin. Because it starts with that crazy dopamine that gives you that crazy arousal that makes you feel high and on top of the world and then when you finish it's that relaxing kind of feeling that people describe with heroin.

And yes, after staying away from porn for a while it will trigger on things more vanilla than the genres we got to. We need to be careful. Messing with porn, even for a little bit, has the ability to create what I like to call "the slope". One wrong step and you can go rolling all the way down, while you think it's too little to actually make you trip. The brain knows how to convince you that a little won't hurt. But even that little goes against the fact that dopamine feeds the addiction.

 

[Phineas 808]

You know, people have confirmed through experience that the urges, craving, thinking of porn go away but at this point my brain can't even image how it would be like to wake up in the morning and maybe realize by the evening "Hey, I haven't been thinking about porn all day." Because my day starts with porn flashbacks and end with them. Reaching that point where porn leaves me alone is the goal to die for.

This is true in the shadow of habitualized behaviors. But as a short time passes without us reacting to the urges, the brain will naturally calm down to a state of normalcy. Because we were so involved in our addiction, we may have lost what 'normal' feels like, but it's there the whole time. Just giving ourselves that space, we will again know what it is to not think about this stuff 24/7.

And yes, after staying away from porn for a while it will trigger on things more vanilla than the genres we got to. We need to be careful. Messing with porn, even for a little bit, has the ability to create what I like to call "the slope". One wrong step and you can go rolling all the way down, while you think it's too little to actually make you trip. The brain knows how to convince you that a little won't hurt. But even that little goes against the fact that dopamine feeds the addiction.

Yes, once we've spent time away from the addiction, we become sensitive to lesser stimulating stuff. Oddly (or thankfully) it was perhaps my faith that I never went headlong into using hardcore stuff for extended periods of time. Yes, I've had my moments of hours-long episodes, but my using has been broken up over the years into spurts and excursioins, or messing around with more vanilla stuff with the occassional hardcore, that it can easily be resensitized to lower level stuff. This has also kept me from PIED, too, thankfully. Also, I didn't grow up on high-speed internet like many of the younger folk on here.

Your metaphor ("the slope") is a good one, what I may call "the porn-pit"- like one is skirting on the outer rim of the porn-pit with p-subs, etc, but then before they know it, they're sliding down into actual p-use, and areas that are hard to pull out from...

But with these metaphors we must be careful to remember that, no matter how far one is sliding, we always have the ability to pull out, disrupt, change our focus, distract ourselves, set a timer, pinch ourselves, we always have veto power to override any lower-brain activity. This is more difficult if we're in our habit, but nonetheless true, and perhaps the most important time to remember.

 

[Phineas 808]

Day: 20

This is 2/9 toward my current abstinence challenge of 90 days.

This is also 2 weeks, and 6 days into this recovery effort, building on previous streaks (139, 19, 53 [19, 35], 2, 14).

Today I hit my mini-goal of 20 days without P, PMO, MO, and without p-subs or edging.

I have only 7 more mini-goals to hit before reaching 90 days!

How do I feel?

I feel good, having no urges to report of currently.

I'm cautiously optimistic that the challenging times, the episodes of [re-]lapsing that followed my accomplished goal in March, are now behind me.

I'm feeling good about myself, getting some traction underneath my feet again. Women, too, are sensing this self-control, and are paying more attention, feeling more comfortable around me.


Deeper issues or concerns?

I did listen to an ASMR session the other night to help me go to sleep, and it acted as a cue toward urges, which arose strong. But I treated it as an ERP session (Exposure Response Prevention), and just let the urges pass without responding to them.

The next day there was an event related to what happened with my daughter that occurred, which took up my time and energy. There was also misunderstanding, and teenage reaction. It was kind of strange, because this pattern played out back in May prior to episodes of lapsing: high levels of emotionally charged stress, with an 'out' being offered via suggestive social media.

I was able to see what was happening, what it could all lead to if I allowed it, and made a decision not to entertain p-subs or edging as any kind of answer.

Otherwise, my daughter and I continue to get closer.

Another thing, I'm pushing to get clients for my business I created, and that's ongoing. But need to start making money on this venture. So I feel a kind of importunity or desperation to accomplish my goals, and not just spin my wheels. This is important to mention because purpose and destiny are the new identity beyond the old addicted one.

I am not the ruinous heap I'm walking away from, but the bright new shining star on the horizon.

 

[guitar1968]

Sounds great Phineas! You are doing great. Always good to hear especially when I'm struggling a bit.

You got this! And, I believe I do too! Keep posting and keep moving forward.

 

[Phineas 808]

Sounds great Phineas! You are doing great. Always good to hear especially when I'm struggling a bit.

You got this! And, I believe I do too! Keep posting and keep moving forward.

You do got this, brother! This, too, shall pass. Your neural pathways may have been somewhat resensitized, but they'll 'deaden' and go to sleep soon enough.

 

[Escapeandnevercomeback]

Great, man! Things are moving.

 

[Phineas 808]

Great, man! Things are moving.

Definitely, brother!

It looks like we're tracking maybe a day apart.

Let's do this!

 

[Orbiter]

Congratulations on the 2/9 Phineas and also for taking what you learnt from the last time with your daughter, facing it & working out from the sounds of things a positive result. Sounds like you've been getting some good momentum back again which is always great to hear.

From strength to strength, keep up the great work!

 

[Escapeandnevercomeback]

Definitely, brother!

It looks like we're tracking maybe a day apart.

Let's do this!

That's right. Our streaks are the same, we'll do this togheter.

 

[Phineas 808]

@ Orbiter ~ Thank you, brother! Your posts always seem to give me strength...

@ Escape ~ Yes, indeed! As guitar so eloquently put it, "Onwards and upwards!"

 

[Orbiter]

Any updates Phineas? Selfless as always, you post daily assisting others but how has your own journey been going recently?

Hope all is well and you have been busy reaping the benefits of your new-found focus & purpose towards recovery.

 

[Phineas 808]

Thank you, Orbiter!

My wife has been out of town for the past 2 nights, and maybe tonight as well (?). Normally, this has served as a major cue toward an entire process of obsession, acting out, and relapsing. It's almost like an automatic tape (schema) that starts playing, even the moment she talks about going out of town, or doing an overnighter. Typically I do alright whenever her and my daughter are out, and I'm home alone, I usually don't think about it (unless I'm in an obsessive state of mind). But this particularly 'cues' me.

As a side note: I was successful back in 2015 when she went out of town somewhere, at that time I abruptly stopped some little thing (which can turn into a big thing), and just dismissed further urges... Since then, I have struggled in some way or other- but not the hours spent online, or going back and forth. Usually I'll lapse to p-subs, but pray it through for the rest of the night. I do miss out on sleep when this occurs...

How am I doing?

I wanted to lay low, and not come on here until her trip was over, and I knew whether I succeeded or needed to reset... Another part of me was, 'You need to make a stronger commitment or decision, and don't even consider the alternative!' But I also know myself... Again, there's many times where I kick myself for not fighting it more...

I'm approaching 30 days soon, and wanted to post before that a 'victory report', but I'll go ahead and chime in now so as to celebrate the small victories, and put myself on notice should I have 'one more night'.

On night/day 1, there were p-subs (2x) and edging (1x), but no P, PMO, or MO. I'm still in line to celebrate my next mini-goal. I noticed too, that there's just a change in desire. Yes, the libido was high, but looking at this and that, or doing searches, etc, just wasn't as high. And this is a change that's been in place for a while now. There were several things I just didn't watch all the way through. My sleep for the first night was negligent, but I did sleep here and there. Napped later, too.

On night 2, went to bed earlier, and basically stayed asleep all night, other than getting up for nature. I did awake at 5am, and thought about it..., but I was like, "I'd rather sleep."

So there may be 1 more night, and posting this now may help take me over the finish line. I am excited about reaching my next goal, and that should keep me focused in itself.

Be well, All.

 

[Phineas 808]

A brief update:

There was no night 3, as she did come home last night.

There were no further episodes, yesterday, last night, or since....

I'm on track to celebrating my next mini-goal tomorrow (30 days).

Blessings.

 

[Orbiter]

Great going Phineas, despite facing the situation of both an old but established pattern of action out as well as a weekend of unaccountable time, you managed to make it through which is great. Sounds like you addressed the issue of the p subs well if there's no lingering urges or carry on effects from it.

Also does this mean today is the day 30 mini goal?

 

[Escapeandnevercomeback]

A brief update:

There was no night 3, as she did come home last night.

There were no further episodes, yesterday, last night, or since....

I'm on track to celebrating my next mini-goal tomorrow (30 days).

Blessings.

Great, man! It's working for you.

 

[Phineas 808]

@ Orbiter ~

Thanks. Oh, the time was accountable, to myself. Managed? It could very well have gone badly for me, but I entered this time very mindfully and aware of my own weaknesses and tendencies. What I noticed in myself, despite any slip, was the self-control. As noted, there were several things I 'started' watching (non-p), but never finished. There could have literally been hours of indulgence, but this was not the case. Instead of a weekend of regrets, I actually had a relaxing and fun time, mostly.

@ Escape ~

Thank you, brother.

 

[Phineas 808]

Day: 30

This is 3/9 or 1/3 toward my current abstinence challenge of 90 days.

This is also 1 month into this recovery effort, building on previous streaks (139, 19, 53 [19, 35], 2, 14).

Today I hit my mini-goal of 30 days without P, PMO, MO, albeit with episodes of p-subs (2x) and edging (1x).

I have only 6 more mini-goals to hit before reaching 90 days!

How do I feel?

I was definitely very focused on hitting this day, and celebrating it. I have my 90 days divided up and color coded, to where 1-30 = red, 40-60 = blue, and 70-90 = green. I hadn't hit this goal since 5/13/21, and was disappointed at the time for not being able to celebrate 'going into the blue'.

My wife going out of town was a surprise that I really had to coach myself through as best as possible. I knew that lapsing was a very real possibility, especially since my prior episodes. I did feel the effects of AVE (Abstinence Violation Effect), but this is mere black-and-white thinking that I talked myself down from more than once.

I feel good, like normalcy has returned, and I'm settling back in for a serious- not just a streak- but of ending my porn use for good. I'm glad, too, that though I had a good run early in the year of leaving porn behind (in 2020), yet due to lapses since, I'm grateful now that I'm leaving this behind at least, in 'last month', and I can again do months clean from this.

Deeper issues and concerns?

My wife is back, and it feels good in the home. There were some performance anxiety episodes in the last two times we made love, but the second was successful, as she patiently worked with me. I'm hoping that the next time we have sex, I'll be more robust and libido driven, and, as we often joke, "I get hard, and I stay hard!" Typically, this isn't always an issue for me, but I know the first time I could blame alcohol (?), but p-use in the past isn't out of the question, it having not been too long ago.

I am of course being diligent, vigilant toward recovery- without being hyper-vigilant. I'm not taking anything for granted.

Social media? In-and-out. Phone use? Still being changed as to my former habits, to where I can actually do some reading when taking care of nature. Mostly, even in lieu of recent events, I don't think about it, don't obsess.

Another thing was, that during this time alone I was true to myself concerning a friendship I had to sacrifice... Nothing 'wrong' would've occurred, but there are deeper concerns that need to be honored.

Looking forward now, as I'm now into the blue phase of my recovery effort.

 

[Escapeandnevercomeback]

Awesome, man! 2 more months to go. Going without porn forever is actually not impossible. This is a fact. Don't listen to the addicted reptilian brain. You see, our brain got hijacked (through the high dopamine of years of porn use) into believing that it is something very important for our survival. This is where we come and turn of the dopamine pump. Despise not feeling like it, we do actually have the last say. It's our choice when we relapse. Even if it's just one second before we jump into the fire, we still have that 1 second to choose to avoid the fire.

 

[Phineas 808]

Awesome, man! 2 more months to go. Going without porn forever is actually not impossible. This is a fact. Don't listen to the addicted reptilian brain. You see, our brain got hijacked (through the high dopamine of years of porn use) into believing that it is something very important for our survival. This is where we come and turn of the dopamine pump. Despise not feeling like it, we do actually have the last say. It's our choice when we relapse. Even if it's just one second before we jump into the fire, we still have that 1 second to choose to avoid the fire.

Thank you, Escape!

Everything you say above is worth repeating and quoting! I hadn't even thought of it like that, 2 months! That doesn't sound very far away, does it?

Heck, when I hit 120 (+19), that was over 4 months! It's really how we frame things in our mind. Some could look at 2-4 months, and say 'damn!!', because they're white-knuckling it, and have the 'dry-drunk' mentality. It's like, do you really want to be free of this? And, look, I get it... P, PMO, and MO is damn pleasurable, and exciting- especially to the lizard brain (well put!). But when it's all said and done, it's taken all the joy out of life, because there's no more reward center of the brain (at least, it's fried). Also, it killed our noodle in the process!

And you're right, if at any time, even when caught up in a cycle, we always have the power to abort, to veto what the lower brain wants to do. Grant it, our executive powers of decision (prefrontal cortex) are slowed and weakened, and the power of habit has seemed to undermine our freewill, urges themselves can never force us to do anything if we're in the moment and mindful as to what's happening.

Be well.