What To Do After A Porn Addiction Relapse (The Day After)
Are you trying to quit using porn?
As in, you know, tying to overcome your porn addiction?
And now you're wondering, what should I do after a porn relapse?
Well, let's take a look...
What To Do After A Porn Addiction Relapse
Scandinavian Bob here, hi.
What to do after a porn relapse?
Relapses suck, but let’s face it, for most people they are still a part of the journey so today we are going to take a look at 3 things to consider the day after a relapse so you don’t make it worse.
#1 Avoid putting your life on hold
I remember back when I was addicted to porn if I had a tendency to make this mistake.
I ’m not talking about a small relapse or a slip here, but if I had one of those really nasty binges because they really took a toll on my dopamine system and my self esteem, which led me to want to, you know, hide under a blanket and lick my wounds.
Called in sick...(avoid this)
Yes, back then I had a normal day job and I have to admit, there were a few times I even called in sick to work after having had a relapse that lasted most of the night.
And of course I lied and told them I had a migraine or something.
But this is a mistake, because even if we should be kind to ourselves after a relapse if we allow ourselves to put our life on hold like this it is like we are telling our brain that, whenever we need a break in life it can just subconsciously make us relapse and then we get to rest and stay under the blanket.
Nothing wrong with resting, but be careful of pairing it with relapses...
Now, of course there’s nothing wrong with resting in life, but if your brain starts making you relapse every time you need or want to rest, you are just going to keep spinning your rebooting wheels and never get anywhere.
#2 Your thoughts are foggy
Most of you have probably heard that it would be a good idea to journal and write down how the relapse happened.
And most of you are probably thinking, yeah yeah, I don’t need to do that because I already know.
And here too I was guilty of this myself.
I often thought I don’t need to do that, I will just come up with some new strategies while I’m going for a run today.
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Once I started writing down how the relapse happened I started realizing just how fuggy my mind is...
But I’m telling you guys, once I started forcing myself to still sit down and write I quickly discovered just how foggy our mind is.
It is like a foggy cloud in there, and it isn't until you actually write it down that it becomes very clear.
The seed of the relapse was planted earlier than you think...
I started seeing, black on white, literally there on paper that, oh look at that, the beginning to the relapse actually started way here, and then I had 5 micro slips where I actually stepped over the line all the way leading up to the big relapse here.
And let me tell you, you don’t have to write that many post relapse reports like that until you start seeing patterns that you would not notice otherwise. And THEN you take actions and modify your rebooting approach a bit in order to avoid doing the same mistake again.
#3 Self-care is important
In order to not make it worse, self-care is important the day after a relapse.
And by this I don’t mean hiding under a blanket, like we just talked about, or allowing yourself massive amounts of junk food or whatever. That’s not self-care.
Don't just brush it off...
I also don’t mean that you should shrug your shoulders and give yourself permission to just brush it off and tell you, “Ah well, mistakes happen” and then forget about it without taking any actions to prevent it from happening again.
Again, that’s not self-care.
Listen, the day after a really nasty relapse you are most likely running low on dopamine, you’re feeling low and all you want to do is to escape somehow, maybe into video games, alcohol, or junk food or even more porn and you the things you least of all feel like doing is exercise, journaling or taking a cold shower.
But, this is exactly what self-care is.
If you can't muster up the energy, do a milder form...
If you just can't muster up the energy to do your normal routine, then hey, that's understandable and don’t beat yourself up about that, but if so at least do a milder form of it.
The day after a relapse I made myself go for a short run and then washed, and shaved and then sometimes I also went for a longer walk later on that day.
Self-care will help prevent further relapses...
This is self care, and unlike instant gratification stuff, this will prevent you from spiraling into several relapses the coming days.
And during that longer walk I asked myself if there are any obvious steps I can take to make my reboot better in the future and then I made a commitment to myself to do just that.
Commit to yourself to take actions for improvement...
Because this helps to get your hope and your motivation back. So the second half of that walk I often started to feel my fighting spirit return. And that’s so important guys.
Alright so i hope you found this helpful and if you did consider subscribing for more and also, if you haven’t already. Make sure to download my FREE 90 Day No PMO Advice and tool guide using the link below.
Feeling stuck? You can transform your life in 13 weeks OR LESS by Downloading my FREE guide below...
It’s not an online course or anything big like that, but it’s a helpful PDF file, almost like in bullet point form sharing helpful tools and tips for you to consider on your journey.
Thanks for reading!
-Scandinavian Bob
Related posts...
- How to recover quicker after a porn relapse
- Porn addiction relapse advice
- How to not binge if you have a porn relapse (porn addiction)
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