Life can be stressful, but nothing is more stressful than being in an addiction.
I remember years ago when I was studying and writing coursework at university. I would do the work for a few hours and then watch porn and masturbate, then do the work again for a bit, then back to the porn and masturbation.
That cycle would continue and the justifications (junkie thoughts) to engage were along the lines of: "I'll stop doing this when I've completed this coursework". "I am stressed, I need this to focus again".
"I'll just do it one final time then get back to work".
The truth is that being in the addiction, the perpetual cycle of doing something and then trying to stop was tearing my mind apart. I was incredibly stressed and used that stress as my excuse to watch porn. What I know now is that choosing to engage, even once, is what keeps people stuck in addiction. It is choosing to engage with porn which creates the desire to engage again.
If you do have stresses in your life, I can guarantee they will be amplified by being in a porn addiction. People living inside of an addiction, often trying to manage and control their desires, are stuck in a constant conflict of wanting to engage and wanting to stop.
Most people do not understand the addicted part of their mind and can not completely trust themselves. It is the biggest problem in their life. But, unfortunately, most people are unable to see this reality because the addicted part of the mind doesn't want them to face it.
Unfortunately, a lot of people are going to tell you to deal with the stress in your life so you can experience less triggers / urges. This sort of advice is complete bullshit. When you are in an addiction, your brain is wired to have cravings. It is not your fault this happened. Just like me, you were probably super young when you started to unintentionally develop these addicted neural pathways. As such, your brain has developed a psychological / emotional dependency on porn and any attempt at getting rid of cravings will only ever be a temporary, feeble attempt at holding out until the next urge inevitably comes along.
Plus, trying to manage an addiction by removing triggers is an exhausting, tedious waste of energy. I remember the days before meeting Mari (and learning this method) where I felt like I always had to be busy, always had to steer clear of potential sexual triggers, and would do crazy things like lock my phone in the locker at work when I felt particularly strong cravings. Those uninformed attempts were just strengthening the addicted neural pathways of helplessness. And so yes life was very stressful whilst being stuck in the land of compulsion.
Solution
I'm now living a Life Beyond Compulsion. I successfully got out of my porn addiction through understanding the addicted part of the mind and rewiring my neural pathways correctly. I haven't felt stressed in a long time and as such I've been able to spend more of my time and focus on building the life I do want to live, instead of constantly running from the life I didn't want to live.
Over the past week I've been in Portugal. I've spent time on the beach, walking along the coast and enjoying coffee and Pastel De Nata's in quaint little cafes. I've had a pen and paper with me almost at all times and have planned out tons of great ideas for the next few months. I'm excited for 2025 and life is good. But, I didn't get here through simply managing stress in my life. I got here through dealing with the addicted part of the mind.
I managed to get out of the hell of living in the land of compulsion by very directly dealing with compulsive desires.
My recommendation for anyone who is serious about getting out of addiction is to see it for what it is. See it as the biggest problem in your life.
See it as the cause of most of your stress. See it as the thing holding you back from being the person you want to be.
And then make it your absolute #1 priority to get out of it. Know that it is possible to completely rewire your brain and put this in the past for good.
A Life Beyond Compulsion is possible.
But, only when you face the reality of addiction and don't let junkie thoughts like "It's okay I'll just do it once because I'm stressed" get in the way of you and your freedom.