Managing your urges

Felt and urge earlier and wanted to share what I do to fight it in case it helps any of you I find my urges come from one of three different triggers 1) stress 2) boredom 3) genuine arousal My stress trigger is the biggest issue for me. I used to use porn the same way an alcoholic would drink their sorrows away. I get really stressed with my work and find porn is an INSTANT distraction. Working on fixing this one Boredom or habitual usage is probably my most common one but the easiest one for me to fight. I also feel this type is the fastest way for the addiction to become more common especially if it becomes a nightly thing where you have trouble sleeping without it Genuine arousal I’m not as worried about because I feel it’s natural to have these urges and I do not frown upon them when they come from healthy sexual desires The first thing I do is notice the urge and figure out where it’s coming from. If it’s stress I immediately try to go somewhere else, breathe, and slow down my thoughts. I’ll meditate on my stress and build a plan to resolve it. The goal with this one is to slow down my thoughts and get to a place mentally where I don’t need it anymore BEFORE I get a chance to relapse. With boredom, I try to immediately distract myself and do something I enjoy to take my mind off it. A big thing that helps cut the urge quickly is banging out like 50 push-ups and doing some body weight exercises to move the blood around lol With sexual urges I actually find it helps to sit with the feeling. Let my mind to what it pleases and just let the daydream finish. Assuming I’m not in public obv. I like to sit with these urges and almost meditate on them while remaining in control of my actions I’ve found any sort of bodily intervention is very helpful for immediate urges IE cold water, exercise, going somewhere else