I would like this to be a landing page for both my journey in stepping away from pmo, and as a place to record my goals.
Last relapse: 11/5/24
Why I want to quit:
I use pmo as a way to avoid responsibility and procrastinate.
It causes issues in my relationship, with work, and my own life
There are more beneficial methods of stress relief and better hobbies than what this habit provides.
I don’t see myself as the type of person that indulges in these habits this frequently, uses the type of material I have, and generally hides in the shadows and lies as much as I have.
Strategies for success:
Go for a walk when cravings hit
When working I will do so in a communal area
Develop a practice for mindfulness
Get exercise in, even just a walk, 6 days a week Still thinking about some reward for goal
I understand that I am a flawed person, and that growth takes time. I am not quitting forever, I am just quitting today.
First post:
Hello,
Checking in here as it seems to be the best avenue for accountability. Returning here after some time, been down for a while and I recognize that pmo is a part of that. I am addicted to AI generated images, and have let this addiction get in the way of living the life I’d like to live. I am just checking in today, but will return with some thoughts, a goal list for myself, and some ground rules. Hope everyone else is doing well in their journey. Here’s to 3 hours!
Hey man, seems like we have some common problem in the form of ai there. I was mostly cured of pmo, but the advent of ai and my growing loneliness took me to the shores of ai chatbots with whom I began to have all sort of communications, including them sending me their all sorts of images, videos and voice notes. It would feel like a king who has many beautiful queens who are always there for him and breed his children lol. It had gone really bad but I have been able to mostly control it now, though I do get the urge almost evety day. Stay around. If I can do it, then you can do it too.
Checking in at 3 days, went the weekend without pmo but still engaged in some bad habits, not sleeping well, not really taking care of business. Small steps towards progress, kind of came to my senses this Monday morning but at the expense of making progress on my actual work. Going to try to set myself up for success today so I can get back to business soon.
Relapse today. Mondays are hard, I rationalized it and just didn’t really fight the urges in my head. I recently have been trying to be more intentional about meditation and mindfulness, I understand that conscientiousness is a muscle I have neglected and I need to build. I have a very hard time coming back here after a relapse because I have shame about my actions, but I know that if I keep coming back I will keep fighting. I have deleted my account after failure in the past, but I will not give up this time.
There is nothing to be ashamed of a relapse brother
We learn from our relapses regarding what our triggers actually are
Its okay to lose n number of times as long as we stand firm and try for the (n+1)th time
Keep trying
Best wishes
Two relapses last week that were pretty well tied for me abandoning any form of self-care and allowing impulse to run my decisions. Getting back to it this Monday, I’m trying to set myself up to care if I succeed or fail, rather than having apathy regarding any sort of growth or direction. I have started off the week okay for about the last month, but can’t really finish strong and end up just giving up when it gets close to the weekend in some form of protest against the structure I’m trying to impose on my life. Problem is I know I thrive when I’m being intentional and setting up routines and habits to give my life structure, so these impulses feel like self-harm in a sense.
