The Top 3 MISTAKES YOU SHOULD AVOID
All you have to do is avoid making these 3 mistakes.
Please take your time to truly absorb what you’re going to read next. This stuff is not obvious and many men are completely unaware of it, specially those who are new to rebooting. Successful rebooters probably won’t benefit as much from this thread.
Mistake #1: Using Porn to Stop Feeling Bad
People who are unaware of this mistake are going to have a very difficult time quitting porn.
This is what usually happens:
You’re very stressed about work or school. You spent all your day working your ass under pressure and you know that the upcoming days are going to be the same. There’s pain in your body. You’re mentally exhausted. You want to relax and feel good. So what do you do? Watch porn.
You go out to have fun one night. There’s one girl you really like, so you try to talk to her, but she keeps ignoring you. One of your more outgoing friends keeps making her laugh with his jokes. You’re jealous. You say to yourself “Fuck this shit” and start approaching other women right there. They all reject you. Even one of them said to you “Get away from me!”. You go back home feeling incredibly frustrated. Your mood is very down. You start to wonder if you’ll ever be able to get a beautiful girlfriend. You get temporarily depressed. It’s painful. You want to escape these feelings. So what do you do? Watch porn.
You went out drinking last night. You had a lot of fun, but now you’re left with a terrible hangover. You have a headache, nausea, stomach pain. You can’t concentrate or do anything. You’re just lying there drinking some Gatorade. Obviously, being hungover sucks. You want to stop feeling bad, at least for a few moments. So what do you do? Watch porn.
You’re bored as fuck in your house. You and laziness become one. You’re not in the mood for anything, not even watching a movie. Boredom, boredom, and more boredom. Who wants to feel bored? Nobody. Time runs slowly. Nothing is fun. You go to Facebook and there are no interesting updates. You refresh your favorite forums and there are no new replies to your posts. There’s nothing to do. You start becoming anxious and restless. So what do you do? Watch porn.
Please, stop this.
You need to stop medicating yourself with porn every time you feel pain and discomfort.
This is ignorance to the reality of life.
Stress, depression, frustration, hangovers, boredom, injuries, physical pain, anxiety, embarrassment. You know what they are? You know what they’re called?
They’re called LIFE.
Do not run away from life. Do not run away from reality.
We will never become happy if we keep doing this.
In Buddhism this is called aversion. Running away from pain. Running away from discomfort.
All these bad feelings are temporary. Boredom, stress, hangovers, feeling down. They will all pass.
If we keep taking refuge in porn and running away from pain and discomfort then we will never be able to grow as persons and become real men.
We need to break out of this cycle. Or at the very least try to.
Otherwise, what are you going to do when things get tough in life? Hide in your room? Become depressed?
What are you going to do when you realize that hitting on girls brings up a lot of anxiety and nervousness? Run away? Make excuses?
What are you going to do when you’re stuck in a traffic jam for 2 hours and you’re hungry as fuck? Complain? Hit the horn endlessly?
What are you going to do when you realize that losing weight isn’t as easy as you thought it would be? Give up? Binge on junk food?
We need to stop using porn as a pain reliever.
We need to face reality, not run from it.
Read carefully the following text taken from In Buddha’s Words:
Mistake #2: Being Hard On Yourself Every Time You Relapse
Ok, so you just “relapsed”.
Calm down. Breathe.
Stop the drama. Stop the “I’m so sick of this” comments.
Don’t get angry. Don’t feel guilty.
It won’t do you any good.
Sometimes he feels angry. Sometimes he feels guilty. Sometimes he feels down. He takes relapse very seriously and ends up feeling very bad with himself. He then goes and commits mistake #1 in order to stop feeling bad, which in turn will make him feel more bad afterwards. So he binges until he’s completely depleted. Then he tries rebooting again, remaining completely unaware of his mistake. Some days later he relapses and once again goes hard on himself, unable to break free of this cycle.
Listen, the next time you relapse, don’t be hard on yourself. Calm down. Open your “relapse spreadsheet” (which I believe everyone should have) and mark the current date with an X. Then calmly get back on track as soon as possible. Minimize your binge as much as you can. You’re not back to zero every time you watch porn.
There’s a Hall of Fame, yes, but this is just a way to encourage people. It’s not an indication of whether you’re successful or not.
Please understand. Let’s use some common sense here.
If a guy goes from watching porn every day to watching porn 3-4 times a month, then he’s already successful.
Why would a guy like him be so hard on himself every time he relapses? It just doesn’t make any sense. He’s way ahead millions of men around the world who are completely hooked on porn.
All he needs to do is keep trying to reduce the amount of relapses per month. That’s why I believe having a spreadsheet is crucial. It will give him some perspective on how much he has progressed.
With time he will discover that the chaser effect loses its strength. Getting back on track after relapsing gets easier and easier.
He might or might not be able to get into the Hall of Fame, but it doesn’t matter. The addiction no longer has control over him.
That, my friends, is true success.
And the mere fact that you’re a member of this forum and you’re trying to leave porn behind is enough reason to be proud and stop beating yourself up.
Mistake #3: Focusing Too Much On NOT Watching Porn
Guess what?
If you’re thinking about not watching porn, you’re thinking about porn.
As long as porn is in your mind, you will have a lot of trouble letting it go.
The correct approach is to just forget about it.
Stop obsessing about what day you’re on.
Stop posting on your journal stuff like “Omg quitting porn is so difficult, the urges are so strong!”
Stop hanging out too much on this forum.
Just forget about porn. Disregard it as an option in your life.
Focus your mind on the stuff that matters. Your family, your dreams, your health, your career.
When urges arise, watch them mindfully. Observe them. Do not react. Do not suppress them. Do not push them away.
Just kindly smile and focus your mind on something else.
Watching porn is not an option. It’s not a part of your life anymore.
It’s a thing of the past.