Hi everyone - my name is Andy, I'm a single 24 year old from the UK. Firstly I'd like to say what a fantastic resource this forum is, I found this community while browsing the /r/askmen subreddit and I've been really inspired by reading about the success stories and above all, the support and care for one another. Like many here, I started masturbating from a young age after discovering porn on the internet. I started masturbating a few times a week however the older I've grown masturbation has become more and more frequent - particularly since graduating and having more spare evenings after work. I've really a few reasons why I'm wanting to start this journey with you: a) I'm a Christian, which means I feel ashamed over watching porn - potentially more so than others. As a Christian talking about porn with others I feel is more taboo and something that I've never discussed with others before. On a positive note however, I feel my own personal belief will be a major factor in helping me on this journey. I believe that God's grace not only offers forgiveness but the empowerment to stop sinning - this I believe extends to you too. b) Watching porn and masturbating wastes time and distracts me from other, more important areas of my life. c) I've never really been that aroused around girls - I feel this is very likely attributable to PMO. I started this journey on the 1st November and I'm pleased to say that, so far I've managed to abstain from PMO. In a sense this has been easier than I thought so far, however I do find bedtime/lying in bed to be very difficult. Has anyone got any techniques spefically to combat this? I've also been fortunate to find an accountability partner here on the forum, so far this has been working really well as I feel it will help to have a more focused relationship with a likeminded person and someone to share this journey with closely. I'm also considering becoming a premium member, to both financially support this excellent resource and to get access to the accountability group. Does anyone have any experience with the said group so far? Godspeed. Andy
Hey Scooby, great to have you on board. I imagine lying in bed is a touchy spot for most people here, since that's likely where you do most of your jacking. What helps for me is to change sleeping positions that I usually do the business in/sleep in a different part of the bed. It's strange, but your mind seems to create a kind of "sweet spot" for your masturbation, and it seems to generally be where you do it the most. I can lie on my back in a certain spot on my bed, and the porn images come to my head immediately, no matter what my mood was before that.. it's like Pavlov's dog type stuff! Don't know if this will work for you, but it sometimes takes the edge off for me. ^_^
