I will make it -- Looking forward to taking my life back

First_step_thousand_miles

First_step_thousand_miles

Respected Member
Day 1007 no porn
Day 1 no MO

It's strange, quitting porn was so darn hard in the early days but in the past 6 months I've hardly thought about the days or the counter. It's just another thing. I think it's a combo of reasons:

1) Being so far away from Day 1. The urges do become smaller and disappear, with wisps that pop up now and again but not enough to drive serious tests of willpower. This is a really great thing and hopefully encouraging for folks who are trying to quit

2) Having a gf. I don't think about porn much anymore since I've got a woman I'm very attracted to in my life now. I still MO sometimes, but I think the frequency is like 2-4x per month. I don't really ever expect it to exceed more than 2x per week on a steady-state basis, maybe 1x per week is the happy medium or maybe it's 2x per month. That probably ebbs and flows, but I don't abuse MO'ing now either

3) Having other stuff & goals. For me, it's the gym (getting fit) and finding a new job. I try to see friends as often as I can, and do more activities out of the house. It just leaves little time for thinking about porn

4) Avoiding triggers. Twitter is just no good for this, I'm never going back. I don't have IG, Snapchat, TikTok and I haven't logged on into Facebook in months. Avoiding the triggers is ungodly important

I do sometimes think, 'oh I wonder what I'll find there [insert something that would lead to porn]' but I just ignore it pretty easily now. I'm sure with the new AI wave there's all kinds of stuff out there, but I also know that it's probably taken what was once heroin and turned it into fentanyl. And I have a feeling it's not good to put fentanyl on your body haha. No, I truly am content leaving whatever new internet concoctions there are to others, though I hope they too wake up one day and quit

I can hardly believe that I quit porn in 2022 and it's now 2025...just amazing. Also a reminder that time really flies and we should enjoy the present as much as possible, maximizing the joy in our lives (which in and of itself implies no porn).
 
Blondie

Blondie

Respected Member
First_step_thousand_miles said:
I can hardly believe that I quit porn in 2022 and it's now 2025...just amazing. Also a reminder that time really flies and we should enjoy the present as much as possible, maximizing the joy in our lives (which in and of itself implies no porn)
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This is true. I'm so happy for you man. Yes, time flies, so we better make the best of it, and I think you're doing just that. :cool: I'm glad to hear you and the lady are doing well. Have you had any problems in bed, or is everything functioning as it should?

Keep killing it!
 
First_step_thousand_miles

First_step_thousand_miles

Respected Member
Blondie said:
This is true. I'm so happy for you man. Yes, time flies, so we better make the best of it, and I think you're doing just that. :cool: I'm glad to hear you and the lady are doing well. Have you had any problems in bed, or is everything functioning as it should?

Keep killing it!
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Hey man! Things are definitely functioning much better and better, we haven't had sex yet but definitely getting closer & closer haha. She wants to wait a bit longer which I gotta respect, but probs this summer-ish is what we were talking about

Otherwise things are good man, how about on your end??
 
Blondie

Blondie

Respected Member
First_step_thousand_miles said:
Hey man! Things are definitely functioning much better and better, we haven't had sex yet but definitely getting closer & closer haha. She wants to wait a bit longer which I gotta respect, but probs this summer-ish is what we were talking about

Otherwise things are good man, how about on your end??
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Hey man, I think that's beautiful that you're waiting. There's no reason to rush into things!

As for me, I'm doing okay. I little stressed at the moment. Life sometimes gets you by the balls. But I'll pull through, we always do.

Love
 
First_step_thousand_miles

First_step_thousand_miles

Respected Member
Blondie said:
Hey man, I think that's beautiful that you're waiting. There's no reason to rush into things!

As for me, I'm doing okay. I little stressed at the moment. Life sometimes gets you by the balls. But I'll pull through, we always do.

Love
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hey you can always vent here or DM me if you want to talk in detail on anything brother. Here if you need me!

In general I'd REALLY recommend meditation + cold showers + gratitude practice (along with good sleep and exercise), the combo of this stuff buffers you against stress like no other. If it's too much, then at least just the meditation (along with sleep & exercise) is sufficient as well
 
First_step_thousand_miles

First_step_thousand_miles

Respected Member
Day 1043 no porn
Day 17 no MO

Well fellas so I got my zinc levels tested (crucial for erection quality) after stopping it a few months ago, just cause I wanted to see my baseline. They were at 59 vs. normal range of 70-120. I had them tested as part of bloodwork when I was still on the supplement where I scored 125 (so a bit too high).

It's helpful cause now I can calibrate and take 15mg (vs. 30mg prior) to basically stay in the proper range. I am definitely noticing way more erections since starting up zinc again, just as I noticed the first time when I supplemented with it. It's now a permanent part of my stack, should also help with muscle building a lot

Otherwise living life, looking for my next gig but otherwise enjoying the time with my gf. Life can be messy sometimes, but directionally if we step back and look at the larger picture it's trending up. Love you all
 
First_step_thousand_miles

First_step_thousand_miles

Respected Member
Day 1046 no porn
Day 20 no MO

Well the zinc is for sure working overtime. I'm getting random boners pretty often. Granted I'm walking 10-15k steps daily for the past week, but in contrast when I paused zinc supplementation in Dec and was on moderate intensity cardio I wasn't getting many boners until I restarted the supp. So paired with the zinc deficiency I had in the blood test, I'm confident now on the efficacy. Go get this tested (along with Vitamin D and Magnesium with are also crucial for testosterone) if you think it might be holding you back. Wow, I just scienced the shit out of this haha (or I'm a complete idiot, not sure which one some days lol)

The zinc + no MO for 20 days has gotten my libido up, I woke up last night with the hardest erection God ever created. Then went back to bed and had another really hard erection with another sex dream (and I think I had a 3rd but can't remember that one). So the not great news is that they were porn-like dreams, but that's ok! My system continues to purge and these kinds of dreams are very far few and in between these days. It's all part of the process in getting back to natural libido. I think the 'no masturbation' is helping a ton here as I slowly rewire with my gf. The good thing is, I don't peek at all these days. Not since dating my gf starting last summer, so the recovery is going well. This 3rd year in the recovery has been much smoother sailing than the first 2, and it's all due to being later-stage in the process and having a gf

I'm gonna continue to abstain from MO as long as possible, and turn up the cardio intensity right now, and rewire. That's the plan for the next 3-6 months, if I still feel like I want extra juice I might do the L-Citrulline but honestly I feel pretty good about where things are at these days.

Life has been a bit stressful recently with job stuff, lots of layoff concerns but that's life! Gonna keep moving forward. It's not always a straight line up, but the direction / trajectory is positive. Can't wait to hit 3yrs porn-free in May 15, 2025. Wow, what an incredible journey. Baffling to think I started this 3yrs ago with nothing but hope, it was only made possible by this great group here incl Blondie, SmokenMirrors, and many others!

God bless you all!
 
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