Day 9!!

Have to get your mind off of it.

When fasting, I have changed my response to hunger pangs and wanting to eat into “God is calling me to pray.” This is an example of rewiring an urge that fasting teaches us, which is why Christ told us to do it in the Bible.

Also, idle hands are the devil’s playground. There’s always something to do. Turn your urges into a sign that you need to do that thing. A lot of good suggestions have already been made. You don’t just have to make yourself better with this— you can use getting better with this as a conduit for improving in other ways. Study the Word of the Lord, the Bible. Fall in love with Him in the way He loves you. Take small steps towards your physical fitness and nutrition— you know that will make you feel a million times better than sitting around with bad posture and hurting yourself. Learn new skills that add to your life’s resume as a man and become worthy of asking for an equal-caliber woman to marry and father kids with. All of these things I mentioned are part of the vast ecosystem of correct and holy sexual function. This will change your life and you will be better off for it, even if the urges to slip back are strong right now. The strength of the urges just sounds to me like you’re crossing an even greater threshold of success in this journey. Good for you!

If you’ve ever had an anxiety attack, you’ll know that the only way through it is to calm your mind, breathe, and ride the waves, acknowledging that it will pass in time. This is no different. Don’t feed the urge even a little bit, or it will become even more difficult. We will be tempted to do an endless amount of things in some fashion throughout our entire lives, but we have the “free won’t” to say no to the things we know will hurt us. You can resist it. You know, in your heart, that it is as simple as not doing it. The first thing I tell myself when I fail is “I could’ve just not done that” and it’s not to berate myself because I love myself (if the God of the universe can love me, why wouldn’t I?), but it reminds me that I have a choice every time and I can strengthen my ability to say no. Just like any other muscle— train this with *resistance.*

FIGHT IT. YOULL GET TO A POINT You don’t WANT TO

Find positive things to do. Gym reading, video games. Most importantly praying and trusting god. Hope this helps