My recovery and success was directly tied to counseling. Fortunately the counselor recommended specializes in sexual addiction and has a strong Christian background. I say this because I feel the aspect of Salvation and our relationship with God is integral to success against this sin. The ease of sliding back into addiction or replacing the sexual aspect with some other form of sin is enormous.
One of the greatest realizations that I came to through counseling was the detachment I was creating through my daydreaming and fantasizing. I really had no grasp on reality and could not effectively deal with real life emotion due to the fact that I was constantly living in a pretend world, all created inside my head. The first step to rebuilding my life was to eliminate the daydreams and fantasies that were ever constant and prevalent in my day-to-day life. By eliminating the fantasies I could live in the moment, and it would also help destroy the progression that carried me to a point of making those dreams a reality.
It was also at the request of my counselor that I sought out a Church group that focused on sexual purity. Involving others who can relate to the struggle is important in building support and a network of people around oneself who can offer guidance and help. The opportunity to gather together and talk about the struggles and temptations is highly effective and very important in my recovery. These are men who have seen the dark side of this addiction and who can relate and offer guidance when one is feeling weak.
The sexual purity group helped spark an appetite for understanding, and much of my time was spent looking for resources and information. From books to podcasts I was open to any kind of information I could obtain that would help me in my quest to be pure. I fully embraced sexual purity and from the information I found I put into place a number of tactics for dealing with temptation and the urge to act out.
