Your control over your brain and desires is what matters. Day count is just a gimmick. If you relapse after 500+ days then it means that you have not yet mastered your addiction.
It's a great question, but there's no general answer, it is one of those questions that you have to answer for yourself: how will you know when you have triumphed over porn? I am much older than you @Sean Scoops, I'm 55, and for me I think porn use will always be an Achilles heel. So I am committed to fighting this addiction forever. That said it does get way easier. What are your goals?
It's a question that I've been wondering myself. One guy said that all men have to deal with lust (no just porn addicts) but we have to stay cautious and not let it overtake us. I believe with time the urge may not feel as strong with time but not that they will not appear at all.
You made a really good question! My own answer is something like this: I did not put a specific day count as my target, but instead wanted to change my mindset forever. If you have to count the days, you're probably still addicted. If the count loses meaning, I think you're there.
Great question, it’s like I though I was cured but then find myself doing a double take at a girl in the gym. Reminds me I still got work to do
Lust is essentially the fulfilling of sexual appetite in a selfish way. One can “lust” after their own wife even though they are married, using sex only for their own selfish needs instead of when the moment to connect and share naturally arouses both parties. Lust is attributed to negativity because it doesn’t compel a person to be selfless and giving, but the opposite. Selfishness and greed fill lust and end up leading a person toward self destruction, because the lust appetite is one that can never be satiated. Your original question is not a simple answer. To be free from porn addiction is by no means the same as being free from the sexual craving of lust. Control over sex emotion and it’s expression is single handedly the 1 thing that all lasting successful men and women have accomplished. That doesn’t mean they don’t get aroused or have sex, it means that they have their sexual desires so thoroughly in check that no woman or man can seduce them or sway them unless they give them permission. They are the master of their sexual drive and therefore they will be the master of their life. It’s often referred to as the first and most difficult step to accomplish for a regular person wishing reach their full potential as a human. So when will you know you have conquered porn addiction? When the idea of porn and jacking off to it doesn’t even begin to excite you or cross your mind for more than a split second. Then you’ll know.
For me, I think fully recovering is to come a time when I will be telling people that I used to have this problem but currently no more. Like you see, it is a problem in my past, already overcomed it, no associated feelings, just a memory that it was a situation in my life which I went through and came out the other side strong. I have heard from many people that it does get easier and beyond a certain time without pmo, then relapsing is more of a choice than a matter of falling to urges and subconscious uncontrollable desires. My way is I become conscious and can crush any thoughts easy without doing no tricks or stuff to avoid it. Having no p blockers, enjoying life freely. That will be me in future.
The habit fades away and you don't come back to it. Sometimes you think at it, but you don't find any excuse to get back to it.
One day at a time. The present moment is where you make your choice. An addict is an addict. You've successfully quit every day you're sober. It's the next day that counts. I try not to preach, maybe not always successfully. For myself, I think of porn as something that's never going away. Whether I can stop thinking about it is still an unknown, but maybe not the biggest worry. In fact, why worry? (wishful thinking?) I believe the possibilities are there for me. My challenge is to embrace them. I choose to respect day counters. If I'm in the game, I find it makes sense to keep score. It is important, though, not to beat yourself up if you have to reset, but, instead, think about what happened and try to profit from it. Stay safe, my friends.