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Life After Pornography

A man in a forest of trees, representing the journey of life..
Life after pornography is an upgrade, but there are other roadblocks on the journey.

There are people who have been hooked on pornography for so long that they can’t conceptualize a porn-free existence. They either have no interest in breaking the habit or have tried and failed. This article is about visualization, specifically of a life in which pornography does not feature.  If we don’t have a vision for the future, we won’t take the necessary steps to get there. And if that vision is not realistic, we may get there only to experience disappointment.

Below I share some of the changes I and others have reported after detoxing from pornography:

A Greater Desire To Interact With Real People

This has certainly been my experience. Real females suddenly became more attractive. And I had a greater interest in socializing with all people. Porn is an anti-social activity. I’ve also observed that many people don’t seek out a life partner because they’re constantly satisfying their sex drive with porn. If the desire to get it in is the only reason we have for entering into a relationship, we’re in trouble. But sex drive has always been a natural, normal, and healthy driving force of relationships. When we misuse it, we warp our psychologies and change the direction of our lives in a major way.

An Increase In Self-respect

Whenever we act against our beliefs, we lose respect for ourselves. And so this one applies to those of us who believe that porn is morally wrong or unhealthy. This consequence is unavoidable, because our brains keep track of everything we think, say, and do. If we want to improve the way we view ourselves, we can start by doing the things we already know we should be doing.

Improved Emotional Health

Porn is a numbing behavior for a lot of people. They watch it when they’re feeling angry, sad, or depressed. When we numb emotions, they don’t disappear. What happens is they get pushed to a deeper place within and affect life in subliminal ways. While we may lose access to them, they do not lose their power. In addition, when we numb negative emotion, we tend to numb positive emotion, as well. When we quit porn, a cloud gets lifted and we start experiencing real life. We experience anger. We experience sadness. And we can deal with that anger and sadness as we learn the lessons they are trying to teach us. We also experience more positive emotion like happiness and excitement. In the long run, quitting porn improves emotional health. And emotions are the building blocks of human experience.

Problems Post-Pornography

Life is a challenge with or without porn. Porn just makes things more complicated than they have to be. After we quit porn, we still experience negative emotion. We still have relational challenges. We still have to work hard. We still experience setbacks. We still have serious character flaws that need worked on. We’re just better able to deal with it all.

For more, check out Porn Addiction Vs Other Types of Addiction (Porn Reboot). For the complete archive of articles, click here.

Cornelius
Cornelius
An intellectually curious millennial passionate about seeing people make healthy, informed choices about the moral direction of their lives. When I’m not reading or writing, I enjoy hiking, web-making, learning foreign languages, and watching live sports. Alumnus of Georgetown University (B.S.) and The Ohio State University (M.A.).
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