dont count your days..

Couldn’t agree more

 

Yep, that is exactly right ...

 

I agree... the goal should be living a normal, healthy PMO free life

 

I agree it's ridiculous to turn it into day counting competition, but there is some legitimacy in counting days when you start no PMO journey. It takes 10 weeks an average (66 days) to form new habit, stop an old habit or better replace an bad old habit with new good one ->article So going cold turkey for 90 days probably does give you a good start on your path to recovery. Counting beyond that is kind of self torture. Why would you reset a counter to zero when you slip once after being 100 days PMO free for example? It's lunacy… Why would you punish and demoralize yourself on purpose? You're not at day 0 again. You have large part of difficult hilly road behind you as first 3 months tend to be physically and mentally among the hardest (pushing through acute withdrawal symptoms, starting to face PAWS). Analyze what triggered this slip try to avoid trigger situation next time (learn new coping mechanism if needed) and move on like nothing happened. All is well, you are still on the right path, don't let one slip derail you.

 

I am coming up on 3 months myself and had been harder than I thought. The roller coaster of emotions is crazy. Right now it has toned down. Still left now with a bit anxiety, just ruminating about time lost and getting myself into a better position to move forward in life with girlfriend, etc. I think you were saying that days 80-120 were just as difficult if not more. I am glad though I have made it this far. It is at least a market to cross..

 

Because doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is definition od insanity. Learn from your mistakes. "Mistakes are the best teachers. One does not learn from success. It is desirable to learn vicariously from other people's failures, but it gets much more firmly seared in when they are your own"-Mohnish Pabrai

 

You have to be more careful past 3 months to a year. First 3-4 months are difficult because you have to deal with acute withdrawal symptoms. Past that you need to deal with rumination, regret over missed opportunities ect,... (post acute withdrawal symptoms). You have to develop more healthy lifestyle, better social skills and learn better stress coping mechanisms than PMO. Statistically most addicted people relapse in this period. We let our guards down a bit, were not so vigilant anymore and ghosts of the past start to hunt us.

 

Wow! You hit the nail on the head with your response to me. That's exactly what I'm going through right now. Ruminating about everything and missed opportunities at this point and all coming up at 90 days. I wonder if experiencing that earlier means the brain is healing faster. I can only hope. I have to do some driving this weekend by myself, five hours to a wedding out of town. I feel this will be good to get out and keep my mind busy. How is everything going with you so far.

 

Amen

 

I do not count the days neither, because then days just feel like months, but what i do is, I mark the last day i did it on the calendar
And then when it feels like a really long time i start to count, and that long time is ususually 12 days lol

 

does anyone find it odd, that response to OP's suggestion has generally been. yeah, I agree, for sure, helps me too.

Yet

A good portion of this site is dedicated to counting the days and counting the days is reinforced in so many ways on this site.

Maybe its just me.

Should be an option to turn off all badges displayed if you want.

No PMO for me for about a week or so. cant remember. Im enjoying a better life though

 

Good job on the days sir! So, how do you feel now at this point and is THERE still PAWS

Hey, wanted to ask you something else. In your status right now I think you mentioned about five months or so t actually get healthy libido back. I don’t know how to classify my addiction if it is severe PIED or not. I have looked porn on and off for some 15 years, I’m almost 40 now. In your opinion compared to how fast you healed were you severe or not as bad...

 

In the long run, I agree. Even masturbating occasionally may not be such a terrible thing.
I used to be an alcoholic when I was younger. I was sober in AA for two and a half years. I left AA and drank more, but I just lost the interest/obsession with alcohol. Now I rarely drink. Occasionally I'll have a drink in social situations when it is offered to me. I don't count days. It just isn't an issue anymore. I would hope that it would be the same way with masturbating. Although there is no social masturbating that is analogous to social drinking. Hmm...

 

Numbers don't fucking lie.Counting days is awesome.

 

I have compulsiveness problem with a lot of things, so PMO for me was a compulsive binge thing for me. It was very bad.