One year free from PMO

Made it past the one-year mark! 40 year old, married with children. The first thing I'll say is that I haven't spent a year at the level i'm at, but have built up to this point. So as my journal attests, i had slip ups and pushed boundaries as i got started. But picture the worst you could be around PMO - choosing in front of a computer screen and mindlessly searching and opening browser tabs for hours to chase that recipe of images that I hoped would make it worthwhile, just to get the few second pulse, and the regretful clean up - choosing that over family, health, work, marriage. Sex life had diminished from around once a month and wasn't unusual to skip some months. Pretty much because i had no motivation to initiate it.

That's where i was a bit over a year ago when i chose to set aside PMO. Once the decision was made, it was a struggle to get a streak started, but did that. The first week was a struggle, but completed that. The second week was a struggle, but completed that, and so on. With each new challenge - flatline, temptation to relapse, bargaining to allow only parts of P,M,O - found a coping mechanism here and the strength to continue. The benefits made it worth it and made it where I looked forward to overcoming the challenges - didn't make them any less real.

The time that i used to throw away on PMO is now funneled into becoming more fit then i've been in 20 years, finding more time for my personal activities and hobbies, spending time with family. The sex life in my marriage has increased to 3-4 times a month (and hopefully increasing) My wife and I enjoy sex more, taking much more time during foreplay, completely different experience then when the ever-present reference point in my head was the latest P i had seen.

Wish you all that our on this journey yourselves the same success. Tackle the first week, conquer it, tackle the next week, conquer it, tackle the next urge, conquer it. Step by step, eventually, you're going to like what you've become!