A concrete tip for staying away from porn - If you slip, stop ASAP

This post is part of an ongoing series of posts about staying away from porn

If you slip, stop ASAP

I am a big believer in using a badge as a motivating reminder to stay clean. I am a bit concerned, however, about the badge's "all or nothing" nature. If I slip, I may be tempted to throw up my hands and say "Oh well, I need to reset my badge now, I may as well have fun for a couple of hours". If I do this, I've turned my badge into a counterproductive tool, because bingeing after a slip is absolutely the worst thing that an addict can do. Bingeing turns a slip into a full-blown relapse, and full-blown relapses need to be avoided by us at all costs.

Not all relapses are equal. We need to strive to avoid slipping at all, but if we do slip, and we catch ourselves quickly and stop acting out immediately, then the negative effects are considerably less severe than if we go on a binge. Compared to a quick slip, an extended binge will result in our brain releasing far more dopamine and other chemicals that are harmful to our recovery.

Regardless of your views on masturbation, try your best to avoid masturbating during or immediately following a slip. Masturbation and orgasm affect the reward centers of the brain in powerful ways. And the last thing that you want to do is to reward your brain for undesirable behavior.

So the concrete tip is this - if you slip, stop what you are doing as soon as you can. Apply all of the other tools listed here to get yourself back on track immediately. And don't fap!