Science says that our brains are plastic, which means they change and adapt in response to new input, for better or worse. This is a very hopeful truth for people who have screwed up their minds with bad habits, addictions, or drugs. This is also a warning to everyone, that just as things can get better when we make wise decisions, things can also go south when we make stupid ones. After learning about or experiencing firsthand the detriments of pornography, many people set out to get clean ASAP.
How long will it take to reboot, you may be asking yourself today? The truth is there is no set timeline. People are complex organisms with numerous dynamic variables at work in any given moment. People are not cars; they do not operate mechanically. As a result, it would be non-sensical to think in terms of a mechanical prescription.
Today, I’ve transcribed a short punchy clip in which Frank Rich addresses this very question of time that he gets asked every single day. The answer, as you might imagine, depends, and can be boiled down to the following statement: however long it takes you to become the kind of person that’s no longer addicted to porn. All change starts with a single choice, and that is a choice that everyone reading this is capable of making today.
You can get more from Frank on YouTube at Rebuild Your Life and on Instagram @thesuperhumanfrank. Also, check out his free 7-step guide to “quitting porn for good and living the life you were created to live.”
So, in one instant, it takes no time, and then in the second instant, this is going to be a process that you’re going to have to continue to work on and develop and build yourself for the remainder of your life.
Frank Rich
For more, see the complete archive of articles on integrity.
Transcript:
Hey guys, what’s going on? Frank Rich here from Rebuilt Recovery.
In today’s video, I want to talk to you about the length of the process of you fully rebooting or rewiring your brain from porn. You know, I get guys reaching out every single day now, asking me about “How long until I see the benefits? How long until I’m fully rebooted? How long until I’m finally over pornography?”
And, unfortunately, I’m going to give you the answer that you probably don’t want to hear, because there’s no set time frame. There’s no set formula. So many variables, so many factors go into this to determine how long it’s going to successfully take you to reboot from porn, but I can tell you one thing. You can ultimately transform your life in one day, with a decision. You can ultimately overcome your addiction to porn, in a single moment, a blurp of a time period, a blurp of a time frame, in an instant. That’s all it takes. Once you make the decision, we have the tools to help you successfully reboot and overcome your addiction to porn.
But, in terms of, like, if there is a set time frame of when you start our program to when you begin to experience the results. Unfortunately, no. Is there a set frame that if I told you, if you follow these 12 steps for the next 18 weeks, or for the next 18 months, would I be able to give you a definitive time frame? Unfortunately, no.
We’re human beings. We’re all unique individuals. We have so many unique characteristics about who we are, about our attachment to pornography, about our history and our past experiences, and our past traumas, that have led us down this path of being addicted to porn, so to say I’m going to give this a shot for 30 days, or I’m going to do this for 90 days, and if it doesn’t work, I’m going to give up, because it just doesn’t’ work. That’s a negative mindset. And I think that’s ultimately what it comes down to here at Reboot Recovery.
We want to change the way we view ourselves. We want to change the way we view our attachment to pornography. We want to change the way we view how we show up to the world, because, ultimately, if you’re going to overcome your addiction to pornography, you have to become the person that’s no longer addicted to porn.
So how long does it take to reboot? In one instant, it takes a moment. It takes the time period for you to make a decision to ultimately change your life. So, in one instant, it takes no time, and then in the second instant, this is going to be a process that you’re going to have to continue to work on and develop and build yourself for the remainder of your life.
You’ve had this attachment to pornography. You’ve had these triggers that have led you down this destructive path, for however long. Call it months, years, sometimes decades for some of us. Do you think that just going through a transformation process is going to make all that disappear? No. Porn is going to exist in the world, unfortunately, probably for the remainder of our life on this planet, so you’re not going to be able to run and hide. You have to begin to develop yourself as the person that no longer needs porn in their life. You have to continue to develop a life where porn doesn’t even have an entry point into it.
So how long does it take? You’re going to notice when you make a decision, you’re going to notice a change instantly, just in how you think and view yourself and your position in the world. You’re going to notice benefits at day 7, at day 14, at day 30, at day 90. You’re going to notice some incredible transformative benefits if you actually stuck to the program. But it’s a series of decisions. It’s a series of events that lead you down this path.
So you can change your life in one moment, but, ultimately, you have to understand that this is going to be a lifetime process of developing and building yourself to become that person that you were created to be, and that’s what we help you do at Rebuilt Recovery.