PORN AND YOUR TIME
Have you got an hour or so to spare every day? If so, I
suggest you go and stand in a dark broom cupboard doing nothing for the
full 60 minutes, every day of your life from now on, until you die.
It’s true you won’t be doing anything productive, but at least you
won’t be filling your mind with perverted and harmful imagery. Yes, I
am being sarcastic, but you get the point. Many porn victims spend at
least as long as that on their compulsion. All things considered,
spending an hour a day watching porn is much worse than spending it
standing in the broom cupboard. At least standing in the broom cupboard
won’t do you any harm. You won’t lose your job for it.
Your wife (probably) won’t divorce you for it. You won’t go to
jail for it. So consider:
• How much
time have you spent on porn over the last month? (Hint: Check your
browsing history, if you haven’t deleted it.)
• Is part of
the frustration you feel after viewing porn due to knowing how much
time you’ve squandered on it unnecessarily?
• How would
you like to have the option to spend your time on something else?
• If you were
to use some of that time getting more sleep, would your health improve?
• If you were
to use some of that time getting more exercise, would your health
improve?
• If you were
to spend some of that time staying in touch with friends and making new
friends, would your social life improve?
• If you were
to spend that time with your spouse, would your marriage improve?
• If you were
to spend that time with your kids, would your family life improve?
• What
positive effects could you enjoy from the above changes?
• How would it
make you feel?
• Are you
realizing your full potential, or are your abilities going to waste?
• How much
more could you achieve with your life if you paid the price and put in
the necessary work to become free of porn?
• How will you
be set free by acknowledging the truth that breaking your porn habit
will have a quantum positive effect on your free time and your life?
PORN AND YOUR SELF-ESTEEM
Maybe no one else knows about your porn habit. But you
know. Why does no one else know? After all, they know you watch TV. You
probably tell them about which movies you’ve been to see at the cinema,
or which restaurants you’ve been to. So why don’t you tell them about
your porn viewing? The answer is because you believe, correctly, that
they would lose respect for you if they knew you were a porn victim.
Now, think about this: You know you look at porn.
Consequently, you lose respect for yourself. Porn is a major
self-esteem killer. The following questions will help you to consider
how you have been affected.
• Have you
been choosing the instant gratification of sexual release over the
experience of abundant well-being, self-respect and genuine
satisfaction?
• What does it
feel like to have to hide some of your daily activities from people you
love?
• You are
concerned about what other people think. Shouldn’t you be equally
concerned about what you think of yourself?
• What effect
does it have on your self-esteem to know you’ve been exploiting other
people’s bodies for your own sexual gratification? How do you feel,
knowing you’ve treated fellow human beings as essentially worthless
objects?
•
Alternatively, what effect does it have on your self-esteem to know
you’re spending hours every day hanging out with some of the most
depraved, corrupt people in society? Are they the sort of people you
want as your friends? Would you be proud to introduce them to your real
friends and family? Or would you be thoroughly ashamed?
• What effect
does it have on your self-esteem to know you’ve poured large quantities
of your time down the drain?
• Are you
enjoying the embarrassment of spending your hard-earned money on access
to pornographic materials rather than using it for something
constructive for yourself or your loved ones?
• How would it
feel to be back in charge of your own life again?
• How would it
feel to have a temptation and to say no to it, to experience
being in control?
• How would it
feel not to have to hide anything you are or anything you do from
anyone else?
• How would it
feel to look back at the end of a day, a week, a month or a year and to
think that you’ve used it wisely, rather than squandering it on
pointless endeavors?
• How would it
feel not to be worried about your spouse discovering your porn habit?
Wouldn’t it be a tremendous relief?
• How would it
feel not to be worried about how your spouse would react?
• How would it
feel to be certain you’re not going to do something that would hurt
your spouse’s feelings deeply?
• How much do
you love your spouse?
• How much
closer do you think you would feel to your spouse if you stayed away
from porn specially for her?
• How would
you feel if you didn’t feel the need to lie or to cover up your actions?
• If you’re a
Christian, how do you feel about presenting yourself to your church as
a devout, God-fearing person while secretly filling your mind with
filth? Your fellow church members don’t know you do it, but you
do? How does that make you feel? How would you like to be free of that
feeling?
• How do you
feel about bringing immorality into your church?
• How would it
feel to actually be the person your fellow church members
think you are?
• How would
you feel if you lost your job due to your porn viewing and were in the
awkward position of having to explain what happened to a potential new
employer?
• How would it
feel to know that the truth was good enough – you don’t have to hide it?
• How would
you enjoy living in a way that you truly believe you are a good person?
• What would
it be like to feel you’re living up to your own potential?
• What would
it feel like to be a man of integrity?
• What would
it be like to know that your actions are congruent with your beliefs
and the image of yourself you project to other people?
• How will you
be set free by recognizing the untold harm porn viewing is doing to
your self-esteem and the massive boost in self-esteem you’ll get from
leaving it behind?
• Have you
noticed how embarrassed you felt about what you are doing?
• Now that
you’ve looked at this process closely, is it rational to continue doing
it?
• Have you
mentally rehearsed what you’ll say if your spouse, your employer or
your friends discovery your porn viewing? Have you got some ready-made
lies to tell them? How do you feel about planning to lie to people who
trust you? Would you feel better about yourself if you didn’t need to?
• Has the time
come to put an end to the systematic ritual humiliation you’ve been
subjecting yourself to for years, perhaps decades?
• Would the
skill of delayed gratification you learn in the process of abandoning
your porn activities have positive uses in other areas of your life?
How would that affect your self-esteem?