Great question and super common experience. A couple things to offer- one of them is human urges general last between 5-15 minutes tops. Eg. quitting smoking and you want a cig, if you can distract yourself for 12 minutes- you'll stop wanting one. This concept is sometimes referred to as 'urge surfing' and is a ACT therapy concept(I mean, its as old as people, but ACT rebranded the wisdom). Also, stopping things is actually a very hard thing to do- but doing something else, not nearly as hard: make a list of 50 things you could do other than porn have it ready, have it somewhere in reach and then try to use it. Remember that scene in indian jones when he wants the gold deity/icon but he knows he has to replace it with a bag of sand the same weight- same idea here, sub it out dont try and just stop.

Conceptually- you have habituated a behavior because it feels good and by having done this repeatedly over years your brain has established a specific electrical firing pattern along connected synapses. What does that mean? It means you've walked a specific way in the woods long enough that a path has formed. It is now easier for thoughts, urges, memories and other products of the minds to move along that path. Which makes perfect sense- good news is, any and every time you walk another route you are establishing an alternate neural pathway which in time eventually overtakes the current one. Here is what is so exciting about this, no effort made at walking this new path is ever 'undone' eg. been not using porn for awhile, feeling proud and accomplished about it- then oopsie, you look at porn- none of the hardwork, none of the alternate neural pathway goes away- this is like a ratchet system and it only moves in your favor- you cannot go backwards even accidentally . So, set backs will happen, lets try and be non-judgmental and just notice a relapse happened- what led to? was their a trigger? is it a trigger that can be avoided or distracted from?

-Also, boredom is your greatest ally right now, seek out boredom, feel it get to know it, also it generally last less than 15 minutes because you'll find something else to do. I would literally challenge you to set a time and then sit and see how long it goes until your suddenly taking out the trash or working on that project youve been meaning to get to for months: Boredom is one of our greatest motivators, utilize it. -Use coping skills, if you dont feel like you're very familiar with those, do a little searching online. Make a list of activities and also of people you can talk with(id make 2 lists of people: 1 who can offer distraction 2. people you're comfortable with speaking about vulnerable issues) make a list of places to go also. Finally, what is the single most important reason you are doing this? Write that down and keep it with you. -The cost of a new life is your old one. (allow yourself to grieve the loss of the old one, but don't forget to celebrate the new one!) I'm not very active on here but please always feel free to DM if that would be helpful!