Your Porn Addiction is Taking Over Your Life, So Now What?
Porn addiction can rob you of time in many ways. First, there's the time you spend immersed in pornography. Next is the time you spend planning how and when you'll be able to engage in addictive behaviors again. Before long, porn addiction can take over many areas of your life.
You may recognize you could be doing more important or productive things. However, the nature of porn addiction is that it becomes the priority and can take over your life. As the addiction intensifies, so does the amount of time you'll need to satisfy urges. Work, school, family time, and hobbies will often take a back seat to the addiction. Likewise, it can rob you of time during the day as you deal with urges or thoughts surrounding plans to carry out addictive behaviors. As a result, you may get lost in your addiction before you realize it.
Let's talk about the many ways
porn addiction may be robbing you of time and taking over your life.
Areas of Life Porn Addiction Can Take Over
No one wants to be addicted to something. However, it's not uncommon. Addiction is a disease that includes many triggers and side effects. For example, there is an emotional impact from porn addiction in addition to physical and mental health issues.
There are many ways that porn addiction takes over. In fact, regardless of the type of addiction, one primary indicator of an addiction is when you try to stop and realize you can't. It may feel like suddenly, you're no longer living on your own terms. Instead, porn addiction begins to dictate when and how you'll engage in certain behaviors. For example, you may discover the need to view pornography in order to experience arousal with your partner. Likewise, you may no longer find intimacy within your relationship to be fulfilling, so you avoid it.
In addition to robbing you of your relationships, porn addiction can interfere with your normal way of life. Intense, compulsive urges can take over your ability to think clearly. Instead of finishing a project at work, you may justify engaging with pornography to quiet your mind. As a result, your level of production or quality of work may decline. Likewise, porn addiction can distort your way of thinking and lead you to realign your priorities. As a result, your addiction not only affects you but your family, friends, and others around you.
Taking Your Life Back From Porn Addiction
Recognizing just how much time you're losing can be one of the most devastating consequences of porn addiction. For example, you might lose your job, realize you're missing out on family time you can never get back, or become withdrawn from life. Common side effects include guilt, shame, depression, anxiety, and hopelessness.
Coming to the realization that you want to stop but can't can be a crippling feeling to experience. However, you are not alone. There are many who have worked through the process of overcoming their porn addiction and are now living life in recovery. Having the right support in your corner may be the key to your success.
If you recognize your porn addiction is taking over your life and feel ready to regain control, we may be able to help. At
Capstone Counseling and Coaching, we strive to help our clients reach and maintain lifelong recovery. We may be able to help you too. Now is the time to plan for a brighter future where you're back in the driver's seat. Call us today.
