Masturbation is a common phenomenon among the singles, it happens in every culture, across every period of history, and it's the way most adolescents discover what they enjoy before embarking on adult sexual relationships.
However, if it's becoming an obsession that inhibits other aspects of your life, or you
belong to a religion or philosophy that forbids
masturbation, then it's possible to curb the impulse, gather your self-discipline, and take control of your urges.
1. Find another outlet for your time and energy. Fill your life with engaging activities. The excitement of doing something different can help replace the urge to masturbate, and you'll have a go-to distraction next time you're tempted.
Be Creative
The process of turning sexual urges into creative output (called sublimation) is something on which monks and sages have relied upon for centuries. Start writing, learn to play a musical instrument, paint, draw, or do whatever else makes you feel like you're doing something productive.
Play Sports
It takes discipline and persistence
to excel at a sport. Develop an interest like
running or swimming, or a group sport like
soccer, football, basketball, or tennis. Also, any
form of exercise will help you relieve tension,
feel happier, and to make you focus on your
physicality in a positive way. Yoga is another
form of exercise that can help you feel more
relaxed and less likely to feel the sudden urge to
masturbate.
Eat a Healthy Diet
Fruits and vegetables have
healthy effects on the body and provide
nutrients necessary to increase your energy to
make you more active throughout the day.
Find a new hobby, or cultivate a skill
Learning something that takes a while to master can refocus your brain on the delayed gratification of achieving goals instead of the instantly gratification of masturbation. Try skills like cooking, woodshop, archery, baking, public
speaking, or gardening.
Volunteer your time
Devote your energy to
helping teens who've been less fortunate than
you, such as working at a shelter, tutoring low-
income students, cleaning up blighted areas, or
raising money for a good cause. You'll get an
altruistic feeling from helping others, and you'll
have less time to stray from your goals.
2. Make a plan for avoiding masturbation during
your "go to" times of day. If you have problems
before going to bed or in the shower, refrain from any temptation to masturbate. For instance, if it's a problem late at night, drop to the floor and do push-
ups until you're too exhausted to do anything but fall asleep. If you find shower time too tempting, start using ice cold water only — you won't want to be in there for long.
If you always masturbate when you get home
from school, make sure to have a solid plan to
stave off any boredom you may feel. If you
have so little to do that your mind frequently
wanders to sexual thoughts, occupy your
schedule. You'll find it gets easier to avoid
masturbation if you're too busy or tired to spare
any energy for distractions.
If you're tempted to masturbate in the morning,
try to sleep with more than just one layer of
clothing so touching yourself is more of an
effort.
3. Limit your solitude
If you masturbate frequently
because you feel lonely, find ways to be as
socially engaged as possible. This means that you should join as many clubs or activities as you can, accept and give more invitations to people, and go out of your way to make more friends.
If you want to date someone, consider asking a friend to set you up or join an online dating site.
Another thing you can do is to limit the times
when you are likely to be home alone. If you
tend to masturbate in the hour or two before
your parents get home from work, go for a walk
during that time, or do your homework in a
coffee shop.
Even if all of your friends are busy, you can still
limit your impulse to masturbate by going out in
public. For instance, instead of watching the
game at home by yourself, watch it at a sports
bar. Even if you're not hanging out with friends,
you will not be alone, ultimately having no time
for masturbation.
4. Stop watching porn on your computer. One of
the reasons you may be masturbating so much
is that you know that you can access porn within
seconds if you want to. However, if you don't have the willpower to stop looking at the porn on your own, then you may have to take other measures to get the job done:
Consider installing porn-blocking software on
your computer
Of course you will know the
password to bypass the blocking function, but
just having it pop up will remind you of your
priorities. You can also type a random password
in a text file, copy and paste it when you enter
your password and verify it, then delete the text
file. Then, you will not be able to know the
password of your own porn-blocker. This is the
best way to keep you strong and spare you the
struggle.
If you have the tendency to masturbate looking
at porn on the computer, try moving your
computer into a room where others can see you.
If you have a physical collection of porn,
dispose of it ASAP.
Get Help
Porn addiction apps such as
Brainbuddy are designed to rewire your brain so you crave real connection instead of porn.
5. Be persistent and patient. Stopping a
masturbation addiction won't hit you like a
lightning bolt. It's a process that requires
commitment, and you might make mistakes or
relapse on occasions. The real struggle is
persevering, so commit now that you won't let like mistakes stand in your way.
Set up a reward system. Bribe yourself to stay
on-track with rewards for good behavior. For
instance, if you can go two whole weeks without
masturbating once, treat yourself to a small
indulgence like a new game or an ice cream
cone.
Reward systems are great; just make sure not
to reward yourself with the very thing you're
trying to conquer, which, in this case, is
masturbating. If you say that you'll reward
yourself with masturbation after a week of not
doing it, then you'll only be turning masturbation into something that you really, really want even more.
Masturbation causes more harm than what you think you are enjoying.... Stop it before it's too late.
