Identifying the problem

From personal experience, porn has severely harmed my mental health and masturbation alone has seemed to improve my mental health. Once I stopped demonizing masturbation and feeling ashamed and fighting those urges, I have felt so much better. No, my sex drive has not lowered. It’s actually higher. A girl layed her head on my shoulder and my boy down there started going crazy. I will admit, I have watched porn the past few days in order to turn myself on quicker. I’ve noticed lower self esteem/confidence, shame, and insecurity like I can’t be comfortable around anyone. So no, I will not be eliminating masturbation from my life. But I will be eliminating porn. Masturbation has helped me relive stress both mentally and physically and has surprisingly resulted in more mental clarity by doing it once daily. Porn, on the other hand, has caused me to lose focus and feel fatigued. It puts me in a consumer and follower mindset where I do not feel comfortable taking lead in real life situations and let others take control. It really is damaging. It’s a mental killer. So, depending on your goals, I would definitely recommend eliminating porn but if you feel the need to release masturbation in itself is actually healthy. I know many of you have religious beliefs that prevent you from doing that so props to you. But for my brothers and sisters in this community - porn is the problem. Get rid of it.