How To Quit Pornography

 

In my last article, I discussed extensively the negative effects of pornography especially on men. Pornography erodes masculinity and debase the mind. I want to share ways to stop the disgusting habit. They are:

Acknowledgement: The first step to quitting porn is to acknowledge it’s negative presence, such acknowledgement comes from honesty. One has to admit how porn is ruining their relationships, self-esteem and efficiency at work. Realizing the enormity of porn on your emotional, mental and social well-being will open the pathway to staying away from it.

Acceptance: It takes clear honesty to accept that knocking off porn will be a very long journey with bumps but it will be worth it because defeating it is good for your mental health. It is important to accept the fact that you may relapse but you shouldn’t give up. Your determination to quit the addiction will assist you in your journey towards freedom from porn.

Set Clear Goals: You should outline the reasons that convince you to do away with pornography. You must outline a specific target that you want to achieve and monitor your progress. This can be achieved with the help of a calendar or monitoring app. Keep track of your progress in your journey will help you to develop accountability and also makes you to reflect on your journey.

Know Your Triggers: You must identify the things that make you to watch pornography and control them. It could be loneliness, boredom, stress, or a particular period of the day. For some folks, it is usually during the night.

If boredom is the trigger, replace it with positive activities like participating in physical or social activities. Engage yourself with meaningful stuffs. If loneliness is the trigger, try and socialise with people, make news friends, engage in several outdoor activities, go to concerts or recreational places.

Develop Healthy Habits: Desexualise your brain by replacing the consumption of pornography with healthy habits such as:

Exercise: Participate in an exercise routines. Exercise can help to reduce your addiction of porn and helps to release endorphins which fight anxiety and stress.

Hobbies: Replace porn with creative hobbies like singing, painting, dancing, writing etc.

Learning: Replacing porn with a mentally stimulating hobbies like reading, or acquiring a new skill won’t only help you to quit porn, it will help to reinforce positive goals and build your value.

Online Communities: Join large online communities which discourage the consumption of porn, they will help to kill the habit and also eradicate sexual addiction. Online communities like NoFap helps to discourage watching porn and render assistance to people struggling with porn or sex addiction. Reboot Nation is another support group that assist people to reboot their brains from the consequences of pornography. Accountability partners is an online community that helps to monitor the progress of individuals battling with porn addiction on a regular basis. These checks are carried out either by individuals or apps.

Therapy and Counseling: Another way of quitting porn is to seek professional help. Therapy can help individuals battling with porn addiction to give it up with the help of a counselor or psychologist. Porn addiction can be tackled by cognitive behavioural therapy. 

One can also seek help by associating with local or online groups which are helping to combat porn addiction. In these groups, you can listen to other people sharing their addiction with porn and you can also share yours.

Practice Mindfulness and Meditation: Mindfulness can help to combat the urge to consume porn. Admitting the urge but be less judgemental about yourself and don’t give in to the craving.

You can help to quit pornography by engaging in frequent meditation. Meditation induces self control which is needed to combat cravings for pornography. Taking a deep breath can help to or meditating can assist in calming one’s mind when they are feel stressed.

Taking note of one’s feelings and thoughts when the urge to consume pornography comes is one way of controlling it. 

Be Patient and Persistent: There are going to be few snags like relapse on your journey to quitting pornography. Don’t be too hard on yourself whenever you relapse, focus on the process that you had made so far and keep fighting. It is not an easy battle but with consistency, patience and resilience, you can fully recover from the habit of consuming pornography. 

When you feel like watching porn, think about the reasons why you started the fight against porn addiction, it is going to help you to stay focus on your journey especially when you consider the gains that you had made since you started it.

There are the ways to quit watching pornography. It is not an easy journey but it takes courage, consistency and hard work to defeat the nagging habit.