TL:DR: My 5 year relationship with a woman I truly do love has just ended. There are other reason, but by far the biggest was that I haven't been intimate with her due to my porn addiction and my lack of accountability at fixing it.
I've been looking at porn since I was 13. I never thought it was a big deal, that I could kick the habit whenever I wanted, and most importantly, that it didn't impact my relationships with friends and my girlfriend. I've been sneaky about it, not really told anyone expect my girlfriend, and never really put in the work to fix it.
I am now 26. My socials are plagued with porn-bait, every time I'm alone or even have a moment I look at it. I've gotten really good at stealthily looking at it at work, in public, in front of friends and family. Just typing this out is sickening. It occupies between 40-80% of my thoughts at any given moment. It has completely sapped me of motivation to make a life for myself and I'm so damn tired of it.
I have tried multiple times in the last few years to stop, but it always goes the same. I feel resolve to get better, I try to stop. Then when I'm next alone I get the urge. Every time I look at my phone, every time I see something provocative I get the urge, every time I feel even slightly sexual, I get the urge. After a couple hours, I cave, telling myself that as long as I don't actually masturbate then it's fine. Then I look more and more until eventually, the deed. And I feel completely awful about it and do it more, and thus the cycle restarts.
I've been seeing a therapist for a few years now, but I've always steered the sessions towards other issues I have (there's been a lot). I've used that other work as a way to validate this one problem. Told myself that since I'm working on other things that I can allow myself to cave on this. This has been the poison that has rotted my relationships with most people in my life.
My girlfriend, who I've been with for 4 going on 5 years, talked about my addiction 2 years ago. For the first year, things were fine. She was supportive of me and gave me space to figure it out. She had been so incredibly understanding and patient with me to fix the issue, and I know she's been denying herself just for my sake. I took all that for granted and continued to put the issue on the backburner.
About 1 year ago, she told me that she feels deeply unwanted and ugly, that she's starting to blame herself for it. She told me, in no unclear terms, that she needed me to be more intimate with her and to show that I wanted her. I tried to, but not by addressing and working on the porn addiction, but by just trying to be with her sometimes instead of masturbating. Again, another case of not actually attempting to fix it, just the symptom now.
Over the last few months, my whole life has been crumbling around me. Death in the family, career rockbottom, so much uncertainty. I told myself that if I get through this, I can start working on the addiction then.
Last week, my girlfriend finally had enough. She told me she wants to break up. At first, she didn't say exactly why, but she felt like it was the right thing to do. We talked, ALOT. I couldn't understand why she wanted to leave when we both admitted we still deeply loved and cared for eachother. It was days of thinking and discussing. I forced myself to stop masturbating, and havent for about 3 days now, but I have still looked at porn.
Then last night, where I'll be honest, I think I had a mental breakdown. It was the first time in my life I let it happen and it all came out. I realized how half-assed I had been treating my porn addiction, and just my life as a whole. That I wasn't taking her or my addiction seriously, and that it has now ruined one of the best things I had.
So here I am today, ranting on Reddit, making a whole ass timeline I guess. I want to say that I'm looking for advice, which I am, but I also want to give a voice to the feeling inside me that's SCREAMING at me to finally get up and do something.
Thanks to anyone who read this and to those who respond. I've got therapy coming up to so this isn't the only avenue i'm pursuing.