Stepping stones

Hello,

    7 Cups family, I have an update about my condition. Majority probably don’t know, others may have read about it when I introduced myself for the first time on the new members thread.

    So, I have been dealing with sexual addiction since about 8 years old. It was all brought on by a family member. Years went by where I found myself in my early twenties completely depressed. A few years after that I had a year of success where it was not bothering me now.

    After that year I came to a cross-road where I was in that cycle again and so I checked myself into a hospital to get treatment. From there I found myself in and out of rehab because I wanted to mask my problems with smoking marijuana. That’s not a good thing to do when you are schizo-affective.

    Years went by and I floated around the home-town living in boarding homes and such. Life sucked then, I was barely making it. The funds I received were barely enough, not to mention I found myself living with some not-so-ideal family members who robbed me every month. They drugged me up with pills and robbed me, so I left.

    About five years went by and I found myself in a better position in life again, but I always found myself around those that lived an unhealthy life. The apartments I lived in were terrible. I was stressed out. I just wanted to be away from it all. I found myself out in a Western state (by choice). That was probably the best thing I could have ever done for myself, because I was able to focus on myself completely and decide what it was I actually wanted to do.

    Life didn’t stop there though. I became home-sick so I moved back to the home-state, but this time things were different. I was wiser and gained more experience; awareness when I lived out West.

    So where am I going with this? Just recently I’ve taken therapy more seriously. That’s why I’m using 7 Cups! I read a article here that explained what’s going on when dealing with addiction…

    I’m sure some of you may have heard, it’s that whole chemical imbalance thing. Your brain has those chemicals that it produces. So when you experience traumatic events like some of us do then those chemicals get unbalanced because your brain is producing more of one and less of the other, so addiction happens because that’s what makes your brain feel balanced and happy.

    These past few years have been frustrating but also eye-opening. I’ve been off marijuana since 2020, and I have a 8 day streak of no pornorgraphy (how do you even spell that anymore) coming up in a few hours. I’m slowly making this even more possible by keep life simple (some-what).

Here’s what I’m doing:

• Schedule (I try my best to stick to it)

• Exercise  (I do nothing complicated, although It started off rigorous)

                          -When I stopped smoking I gained more wind,

                            my brain was out the fog.

                          -I started with push ups, afterwards I started air boxing

                           and motioning movements like martial arts lightly, from

                           there I now stick with stretching because I’ve found

                           that is what helps release tension the best.

•  Breathing Exercises;

                           After I gained my wind back I developed a good amount of

                        breath. I started with guided meditations on Youtube,

                        that was getting annoying so now I like to just find some

                        down-time and focus on it. Inhaling for 5 secs or 10 very

                        slowly, and exhaling slowly.

    So here I am now. 8 days into a healthy brain and it’s worth it! There are some frustrations still (that’s life) but I handle them in a healthier way, and that’s the way I’ve been doing it (gratitude and spirituality as well) but doing those simple things trains for the more advanced stuff.

What are some ways you are training yourself?

😄Any suggestions? I'd love to hear some feedback!😄