"IT STOLE A PIECE OF MY SOUL" was the words of a person who was a victim of pornography from an early age.
It is likely that at first, you believe that pornography is harmless since it does not warn you of its true consequences. In an interview conducted by The Guardian, people who had been addicted to pornography or were in recovery shared their thoughts regarding the effect of pornography on their lives. Most of them had begun consuming pornography from an early age, so they did not imagine the magnitude of the damage it would cause in their future lives.
These were their experiences:
"I found it while playing video games".
"I had to watch it every morning and every night throughout my adolescence", and "some of what I saw was illegal".
"I feel damaged by what I saw... "I feel like I took away the opportunity to experience sex without corruption."
"I felt bad, but there I was stuck looking for more porn videos"... "I lost interest in other activities".
"I saw it two or three times a day".
"I think at some point while watching porn you stop caring", "IT STOLE A PIECE OF MY SOUL".
But how can pornography steal a piece of your soul?
Tim Challies in his book A Guide for Guys Who Are Sick of Porn, mentioned that pornography is like a substance that takes over your mind and your being until it has complete control over you. Even though you know you shouldn't do it, you realize you can't stop. You are releasing the essence of who you are, and the potential of what you can become. So, you feel that you are no longer the same and that you cannot find yourself. However, there is detoxification that, although it takes time, allows you to find yourself again and restore yourself (Challies, 2016).
An example of detoxification occurs in your body when your organs discard what is not good for your body. In other words, if it remains in you or develops, it could cause illness and even death. In this case, detoxing from pornography is similar and although it is not an easy process, you can do it!
Here are a few suggestions to detoxify yourself from pornography:
Don't be fooled by the false promotion.
The things that porn promotions offer you are not real.
Define your expectations.
Reflect on what pornography is doing to your heart.
Define or seek help to define the reality of what sex is.
Embrace that new concept and limit your expectations to reality.
Detoxing or readjusting your mind will not happen overnight, it will take time and you may fall again. However, remember that perseverance and determination will help you achieve great advances in your life. You will find yourself again, you will trust yourself again, and you will recover this piece of soul that pornography stole from you. You are not alone in this, visit our Recovery page to start your recovery process, or share this with your loved one!
References
Challies, T. (2010). Sexual Detox: A Guide for Guys Who Are Sick of Porn. Cruciform Press.
Harriet Grant. (2023, March 10). “It stole my soul”: readers on how watching porn at a young age affected their life; Intense shock, addiction and losing interest in other activities are some of readers’ experiences A fifth of teenagers watch porn frequently and some are addicted, UK study finds A psychologist’s guide to talking to teens about online porn. The Guardian (London, England).
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