Some people have this idea that you end up developing these “super powers” once you manage to successfully overcome your porn addiction.
Where you die and transcend humanity itself, becoming a god in the midst of mortals.
I think the reason why people believe this is because of how extraordinarily difficult most people find porn addiction recovery.
Like, if it’s this difficult, then perhaps some kind of huge reward awaits us on the otherside once we “crack the code”.
But this simply isn’t true, or at least how I imagine most people are understanding it, so this is something I want to address today.
Ultimately, what overcoming porn addiction allows you greater purpose in life.
What does this mean?
Well, it means that you’ll now have more time and energy to explore other aspects of life, which previously would have been spent supporting your addiction.
These “super powers” are now that you have unlimited freedom to do what you want in life, and if that’s not an idea which absolutely excites you, then you’re likely thinking about it the wrong way.
In fact, if you don’t already feel as if you have purpose in life, then chances are that you will feel no different once you overcome your porn addiction.
I mean, sure. It’s hard to deny the significant energy and self-esteem increases that comes from no longer being an addict, but ultimately it’s purpose which drives us to excel in life.
And energy means nothing when you have no desire to use it.
With that said, it’s possible you may discover your purpose in life more easily once you do overcome your addiction, so there’s certainly plenty of reason to kick the habit.
I think where most people are mislead is that they somehow think that outcomes and attributes, like being smart, social and funny are like angels that suddenly appear into your life once you meet certain conditions.
As if porn addiction is a kind veil which has been hiding these positive attributes all along.
Well, this isn’t even slightly true.
Instead, life is more like a bucket of sand you gradually fill over time.
The more time and energy you spend filling that bucket of sand, the more sand you’ll have. Of course, sand is just a metaphor for things like knowledge, skill and ability.
And literally, all overcoming porn addiction allows you to do is spend more time and energy filling that bucket, with more focus and determination before.
Which doesn’t sound overly glamorous, but when you consider that time and energy is what largely defines us as human beings, it truly is a big deal.
Especially if you’re working a full-time job, and you’ve got children to look after; every single second you can reclaim for yourself is like liquid gold for your personal development as a human being.
Certainly, what doesn’t happen is that the bucket itself doesn’t fundamentally change in any way. Nor does sand magically appear in the bucket once you overcome your addiction.
But often, no longer being encumbered by internal feelings of guilt and shame can make us feel as if we’ve developed super powers, relative to the mental glut that was our addicted state of mind.
So who am I to say that these “super powers” don’t exist?
You know, come to think about it, I think I can understand why people experience these super powers, and it would be naive for me to say that I didn’t experience them at first as well.
It’s just been such a long time since that initial euphoria, that it’s manifested itself into a haze of nostalgia from the past.
I suppose it's a bit like the first time you got stoned, or perhaps even masturbated.
You probably have this amazing memory of how great it felt, and how it hasn’t quite felt the same way since. Well, I suppose porn addiction recovery is a bit like that.
Your first streak is incredible which makes you feel as if you’ve discovered enlightened crack, and then you keep relapsing and all of a sudden, making it a week no longer seems that great and then we find ourselves in these traps of feeling as if you’re not making any progress at all.
Yet even looking beyond the superficialities of recovery, things like meditation and learning to remain calm are skills which may very well feel like super powers, when previously we had no viable way to cope before.
I know when I first discovered meditation it was like I’d discovered a whole new dimension to my mind that I didn’t realise was there, which gave me the ability to control my feelings and thoughts, which is HUGE when you consider that prior to this moment, uncertainty was just an accepted fact of life.
Regardless, in the overall scheme of things once the intial euphoria wanes and you’re back to solving life’s rudimentary problems, no longer being an addict simply makes you more mentally equipped to live life to the fullest.
And how you express this is entirely up to you.
Personally speaking, the skills I’ve learnt from overcoming my porn addiction have proved themselves useful in all areas of my life.
I’m now more resilient and more mindful of everything I do, and my tolerance to stress and hardship has improved somewhat dramatically.
So yeah, overcoming porn addiction is an amazing thing, assuming you stick with the process and you develop the skills required in order to approach this thing effectively.
Otherwise, you will continue to wallow and that is no fun at all.
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You should totally be my first <3