u/Dry_Blueberry_258

Hey everyone, day 7 for me tonight!

I’m pretty happy with this week, but beyond the number of days of abstinence, what I’m really trying to build internally is consistency — certain habits that help me stay grounded in reality, keep perspective, and most of all, take my time.

That’s where breathing comes in. Reconnecting with my breath has helped me step back from my uncontrollable urges. Not that it makes the urge disappear — it doesn’t — but it creates a kind of distance from it, a space to decide whether to act or not.

Breathing is what we are, it’s the foundation of life. Taking the time to breathe, even just 5 minutes a day, can really help you slowly take back control.

For those who want to know how I do it:

3 times a day, I do 5 minutes of heart coherence breathing, 5 seconds inhale, 5 seconds exhale.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​It helps me stay aligned with what I’m feeling and keeps me from scattering in every direction.

For those who experience a daily state of anxiety — whether induced by PO or not — it’s a powerful anchoring tool.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The most important thing to take away, I think, is patience. Be patient and kind with yourselves.

Keep going!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Hi everyone, day 5 today since I relapsed twice in one day last time. I’ve quit coffee since then because it was simply creating anxiety for me — even though I love the stimulating effect, it brought instability to my day with crashes, so not good for me at this stage.

Otherwise, I stumbled on some images today when opening Pinterest. I’ll admit there was a reaction, but with a manageable step-back. I think it’s thanks to the heart coherence breathing I’ve been doing for almost a month.

My worst enemy — that “fuck it, already lost” mindset we all know — is way less present than before. Even if I come across an image, I no longer tell myself it’s over, panic, and relapse. Before, I had to be extremely strict about cutting off consumption by controlling everything I saw.

You still have to be careful, of course, but the most important thing in the end is the reaction afterwards.

And looking at the total over the last 13 days, I’ve only used twice, on a single day, with no cascade effect after.

Let’s keep going! Hang in there, have a good day everyone.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

How do you stay on track?

How do you keep going when you know you have no motivation, but you also know you have to quit?

Daily pleasures don’t taste like anything anymore, and I know the reason is this damn thing. I managed 30 days clean recently but I relapsed, because I had no physical or mental proof of feeling alive again — using still gave me more life than real life did.

I know it takes time, but how do you hold onto motivation when you have no evidence in your daily life that anything is changing, or that the change you’re looking for is actually coming? I mean real feelings coming back into ordinary things. I know I have to stop. Part of me knows it. But the part of me that uses has no proof that quitting will change anything, so I fall back in.

One thing that’s been helping lately is coherent breathing — 3 sessions of 5 minutes a day. It helps me take a step back, not get swept up in cravings right away, and brings my baseline anxiety down.
If you have any advice, I’ll take it. I’m 22.
Have a good evening.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​