A few months ago, I received an e-mail from a 15 year old girl that broke my heart. She had developed a porn habit and had been watching it for three years and was desperate to stop.
I tried get more information from her so I could help formulate a plan, but she never responded. So for her, and many girls like her who may stumble upon this post, this is for you.
Today we are going to discuss eight steps to help break a porn habit. This can be helpful for any negative habit or addiction as well.
Eight Steps to Overcome a Porn Habit
1.Realize you are not alone
In a previous post I did on porn, I discussed how 1 in 5 Christian women admit to viewing porn on a consistent basis. This is not a problem unique to you and there is help.
2. Admit you need help
Admitting you have a problem is the first major step at fixing it. If you want to tell your parents, I did a video for the e-mailer titled, “How to tell your parents you’re struggling with porn.”
If you’re uncomfortable telling your parents, please tell a trusted Christian adult such as your youth pastor or a mentor.
3. Get accountability
Having someone check in on you and ask you about how you are doing with your habit will do wonders. You need people to lock arms with you and help you set up new patterns and habits.
4. Get rid of accessibility as much as possible
How do you access porn? Your TV? Smart phone? Desktop? However you access it, get rid of it!
I know you may think you can’t survive without your smart phone, but they still make flip phones you know ;). In all seriousness, you need to take away the temptation as much as possible.
Eight steps for breaking a porn habit: teenage girl edition. Click to read! Click To Tweet5. Make a plan for temptation
The desire to look at porn (or sin) doesn’t usually miraculously go away overnight. I believe God can do that, but many times it’s something He helps us work through.
When the urge to watch porn comes up, what are you going to do? You need a plan so you don’t give in.
6. Get busy
Try to do as much as you can to fill your time. Read a book (we have some stellar recommendations here). Spend time with your family. Clean your room. Volunteer. Learn how to sew. Seriously, do as much as you can to fill your time so you don’t go back to porn out of sheer boredom.
7. Give it time
As I said earlier, these things take time. Just knowing it isn’t going to cure itself in a week is a good thing.
8. Celebrate the small victories
Did you go an entire day without looking at porn? Good for you! You get a sticker! I know that may sound juvenile, but people like rewards. Maybe you’ll buy yourself a shirt or get a sticker chart and fill it up (you laugh…but it might work!).
In all seriousness about the sticker chart, seeing your progress in a tangible way helps motivation. Celebrating along the way is crucial. Small victories lead to overall victory.
YOU CAN DO THIS!
In Closing
I hope you found this post helpful. Here are a few others we have done on this topic of a porn habit:
- Fight the New Drug– this is a site dedicated to educating people about how porn negatively affects your brain, heart, and the world.
- Also, this post is one in our Break the Chains series. You can see all the posts in the series by clicking here.
Again, you can do this! With God’s help, a plan, an accountability, you can succeed!!
Rooting for you,
-Sarah
More about our Ministry
At Transformed4More, our goal is to help those who want to grow in their relationship with God, and we do this in two main ways:
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More about our ministry:
At Transformed4More, our goal is to help teenage girls grow in their walk with God and provide practical ways for them to navigate through their critical teenage years. Besides our book, which you can learn about by clicking below…
… and blog posts, we help in two main ways:
- The first is our FREE resource library. We have resources to help with dating, friendships, and spiritual growth. You can see what all it offers here. You can gain access to it all by clicking here or the picture below.
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