31 days completed. yesterday was day 30, right on April fools, but this ain't no April fools, this is reality.
The last time I got this far was when I was living in a van, in California, but that time I got to day 29, haha. So this time I am very proud of myself - day 31 baby.
I struggled with Porn addiction for a good 10 years now, actually every since I was 12, this was the first time I watched Porn, and had an orgasm watching Porn. It was such a satisfying feeling that I had to do it again, and again, and again...
When I turned 16 that was the first time I realised that there was something wrong with me, I had severe anxiety, had trouble with speaking to people, or even being around people, and at times I couldn't even go to the 7-11 on the corner because I felt so anxious.
As time passed one of my friends introduced me to the Nofap subreddit, and in my mind I came up with the story "fapping is the cause to all of my problems, once I'm rid of it all of my problems will go away". This lasted two to three years maybe, until I changed my mind and "realised" that 'actually' Porn was the problem, which was causing all my problems.
I tried many ways to overcome my addiction, from putting Porn blockers on all my devices, and even at one time getting this application called Cold Turkey which is a bitch to turn off. Besides this I implemented meditation into my life, I started going to the gym, I started socialising, I told a few close friends about my addiction, I began journaling, and doing a lot of research on this addiction... but the results were always the same. I would be so proud, maybe I made it to day 10 or something and all the sudden this urge hits me and I got my cock in my hand, some nudes on the phone and there is nothing I could do.
Every year it was the same. A new technique, a new method, but it only got me so far.
So what worked this time? And am I truly in control now?
I would say it was momentum.
Maybe it took a long time to finally overcome my addiction, but all these years I built momentum. Every single technique, every single strategy was making my mind stronger, and the realisation that "I really don't want this anymore" stronger. And yes most of them didn't work, but each time I tried again I learnt more and more about myself. And now, I understand that in order for me to overcome this worthless behaviour I have to be in motion, I have to be doing something. If I sit home, bored, alone, without purpose I 'will' watch Pornography, no doubt about that.
But when I move, work, travel my mind doesn't need Porn. And I know why! This happens because of the chemicals in your body. I don't necessarily know if it's due to dopamine, but I like to look at my body as a child. This child needs to be engaged, need to be active, if the child is put into a position where he cannot express himself, he will react negatively. Especially if you give this child a piece of technology, he will try to escape through this and get some sort of satisfaction through that piece of technology - or get some dopamine stimulation.
When you're traveling, when you're working, when you're when you have things to occupy your mind, Porn is not on your mind. But obviously if you've been addicted to it for a very long time, you won't just quit like "click" that, it takes time to rewire your brain, but in order to rewire ones brain you need to distract yourself from the addiction, and when the urges 'do' come up, you have to change the behaviour towards something more productive, and eventually with time and reconditioning you can change the trigger behaviour into something productive.
But, let me say it again. If your life consists of you sitting in your room, behind the computer screen, the odds are completely against you. You cannot overcome your addiction from this point, it will not work, your lifestyle needs to support a purposeful, healthy, social way of living, and through this, tackling your addiction will take less effort.
For a long time I also didn't have a concrete reason for quitting. I use to tell myself "if I quit all of my problems will go away - my anxiety will be gone, I'll have more energy, I'll be more free, I'll get more chicks", and let me tell you, reaching day 30 has given me LOTS of internal power and this is because I no longer have to hide anything from the world. And because of this I feel secure about myself - although I think this is just a natural state which you return to when you cut off all the distortions from your life. But my BIG reason for quitting was because Porn is a waste of time. How many hours have I spent behind the computer screen doing this useless act? How many opportunities has this robbed me of? How many relationships has this addiction ruined? So maybe there are multiple reason :) But I know that I don't want to spend my time on something that doesn't help me grow - because I only have a limited amount it. Porn has no benefit whatsoever, so f*** it!
I set up a timer on my website (takkamil.com) not too long ago, actually 32 days ago, and I told myself "30 days", I didn't pay much attention to it, but maybe subconsciously I was counting the days. The time went by pretty fast, again because I was occupied, I had things to do, I had no time to be browsing the web, and now I MADE IT!
I'm thinking about creating a live Q&A, so that if anyone has questions or something they want to discuss I can give some input. I have years of experience with dealing with addictions - and overcoming them. I also have lots of experience with travel hacking, making money online, finding your purpose and soooooo much more, so if you got any questions just PM me or put your questions in the comments and I will let you know when I host the live Q&A!