Freedom Renewed: Healing From Addiction Through Grace and GrowthSample

Day 1: Normal, but Not Healthy

You are not alone: 85 percent of people of all ages say they watch porn. With 96 percent of young adults encouraging, accepting, or neutral of porn when talking with friends, and very few young people speaking up against it, porn use will continue to increase dramatically into the foreseeable future. Thus, we are only beginning to witness how pornography will affect their lives and the generations to come.

So, why should you quit porn? Simply put, porn damages the brain, which inherently impacts the chronic user’s ability to think, feel, perform, and relate at optimal levels.

Porn use is directly linked to:

• an increase in sexual dysfunction in men and women alike;
• higher impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, cognitive rigidity, and poorer judgment;
• excessive preoccupation with sex;
• objectification of others, leading to increased sexual coercion and abuse;
• low self-esteem, loneliness, anxiety, and depression;
• less interest in sex with one’s partner;
• negative body self-image, and being more critical of a partner’s body;
• a greater risk of cheating on a partner; and
• more than twice the occurrence of heated breakups or divorce than people who do not use porn.

Porn use has been demonstrated to have a wide variety of negative effects. Porn use is impacting your life.

“But isn’t porn use normal?” you might ask. Maybe, but it’s certainly not healthy. We live in a world where all kinds of things that are not good for our health and well-being have been normalized, including but certainly not limited to porn and hypersexuality.

I have observed the ways in which getting stuck in a pleasure-seeking consumption loop can steal a person’s ability to live to their full potential. And I want to help people live lives filled not only with pleasure but also with happiness and joy.

All this sounds like bad news, doesn’t it? Well, it is. But there is good news too. Porn addiction stems from your brain, and neuroscience has demonstrated that brains have neuroplasticity, which means they can be rewired. So if you’re feeling overwhelmed or exhausted by your porn use, misuse, abuse, or addiction, you can learn to heal your brain and free yourself to live the liberated life you dream of.

Response: What are some ways that pornography has impacted your thoughts, emotions, or relationships, and how might choosing to quit open the door to growth and healing in these areas?

Prayer: God, thank you for giving me the ability to adapt, heal, and grow. As I recognize what is not healthy, show me how to take steps toward the wholeness you have for me.