I’ll get right into it- I’ve been battling an addiction to pornography for over 5 years now. I have gone with long stretches of sobriety only to fall into shame again. I am passionate about this battle and helping others find solutions in their quest. I have been involved with countless addiction recovery programs and learned a lot from all of them. I love sharing my story with pornography addiction because, honestly, not much else compares when it comes to ‘things that have brought me closest to Jesus Christ.’
Recently, I was scrolling on social media and I kept getting videos about peoples’ fitness journeys. One in particular stood out- Ethan Bernard…he started out very obese. But he set goals and has been documenting his entire journey, including all the setbacks, failures, and feelings of discouragement. Even though I’ve never weighed more than 170, I felt a connection to Ethan. Not to compare being obese with viewing porn, but a lot of the challenges Ethan shared reminded me of similar challenges I’ve had in my journey. We are both on a quest to improve ourselves- and its a difficult one that requires daily effort in the physical and mental battle field.
Then I had the thought “Why isn’t anybody out there documenting their pornography recovery quest?” Its not a new stat- we’ve all heard the saying “90% of guys are struggling with pornography…the other 10% are lying.” As I have shared my story with friends, family, coworkers, dates, and other church members- nobody has ever said “Porn? Ya-I’ve never looked at that crap.” No, nearly every response is the same:
- “Wow… I thought I was the only one.”
- “I’ve been struggling with *that* for so long”
- Or simply a “Thank you” because that’s all they were able to say in between tears.
I have not been able to shake the idea of Ethan Bernard and following in his steps (he takes a lot of steps every day btw.) I’m going to keep this blog alive and use it as a weapon against porn. Come join the winning team. What’s your story?
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