What are your biggest problems/obstacles that you have faced when it comes to quitting PMO?

Three things:

-The first thing was me trying to cling on to one aspect of the addiction when I know deep down the item has to go.

For me that last item was reading sex stories. I kept making excuses, lied to myself, and even used the SAA abstinence statement as my “loophole” to keep reading those stories. It would always lead to PMO.

Finally got serious about quitting the stories in February.

-The second problem is my mind drifting off into sexual fantasies. That also leads to PMO. Been doing well in catching myself when that happens and concentrating on non-sexual things.

-The third item is closely connected with the third, being bored or feeling lonely. Those two things lead to fantasizing which leads to PMO. I have to have a daily schedule and stick to it or I’m setting myself up for a fall.

 

For me, the biggest problem happens when I go to sleep at night. For some reason, that's the time of day in which I think more about sex than any other time. I used to be addicted to pornography and those mental images of what I saw are still quite strong. I start to think "Well, if I masturbate just one time it's not so bad. Certainly it's not a big deal". But that one episode of masturbation soon enough turns into once a week, then into once a day, then into several times a day. Before you know it, you find yourself a slave to that addiction.

I must resist that temptation, but it starts with an intention. You have to want to stop PMO before you can conquer it. It comes from being sincere. Where there is sincerity, that's how willpower develops.

But if you continue to be in denial about it, you'll never attain freedom.

 

Complacency and urges. Those are the two main issues that have gotten me to relapse more than anything. Either I do good for a while and then suddenly have a day of arousal for no reason or I do well enough to a point where I feel like one look won’t be too big a deal.
Don’t think I’ve fixed these issues per se but I’ve gotten a lot better with living with them and not responding to them with PMO.
Everything else I’m pretty ok on. I’m busy enough in my routine to not let wandering thoughts get to me, and I deleted most of the sexual stimuli off my devices.

 

My biggest obstacle was thinking that I could quit this alone. I was helped however by turning to God, and walking with him has made staying clean possible. You know how you become someone else before and during watching porn. That is what was taken away from me. I no longer become someone else because of urges. I honestly think that those urges can be demonic. Because you literally feel possessed. I can not say for sure that demons influence urges. But I do know for sure that I can NOT get rid of demons. Jesus can though.