Hello Chaverim!

I'm here, like all of you, to finally put an end to this cycle of destruction. I'm looking forward to helping, and being helped by, everyone here.

Thank you, GYE community!

TC

Welcome TC!

Nice to have you here. Please make yourself at home, and tell us more about yourself. Your background. Your issues. Etc.

Hatzlacha on your journey,

MT

welcome aboard. You will probably find that you are not the only talmid chachom on board for the ride.
I have a feeling that the more holy we are the more we come to the decision to deal with our problems.
You are in good company. Lots of Hatzlocha.

Thanks, MT. I'm married, modern orthodox and have kids.

In terms of issues: the whole gamut of internet temptations, I suppose -- images, chatrooms, videos. Really, I just go after whatever gives me that "fix". I was devoting obscene amounts of time and brainpower to these destructive pursuits, and realized I needed a place like GYE to finally put an end to it.

Thanks so much, Unanumun. I could only hope to one day be but a fraction of a real talmid chachom, but I sincerely appreciate the sentiment. Thank you! I figured the user-name was a half-decent play on the term, actually; I'm happy, now, just being a successful student of chaim, life. Of course, a little Torah never hurt anyone

WELCOME TC! It's nice to have you with us. There are lots of good tools on this site, and people too!

Keep posting and keep us posted. Tell us some more about yourself and your struggles. What have you tried, what brought you here?

woops. i think i read your user name too quickly.

Thanks, guys! (That's okay, Unanumun -- it was a nice mistake )

I think I have to warm up a bit to this site, and the process in general, before I divulge specifics about my struggles, but suffice it to say that they were a tremendous and constant source of shame for me. I mainly used chat sites for bad activities, and was (and, obviously, still am) a full-fledged addict.

Like I said, thinking about just how much time and thought was devoted to those activities is really what brought me here. I was avoiding career and family responsibilities in favor of spending inordinate amounts of precious time gratifying myself online. I was in no way different than a drug user, passed out with a needle in his arm, wasting away.

Religiously, I'm a modern orthodox, ba'al teshuva, and really enjoy Chiddushei Torah in all its many forms. That's one of the nice benefits I've noticed about this site - so much creative application of Torah.

Welcome Welcome TC:
It is wonderful that you got the strength and courage to realise that you have no strength and courage left to continue living the way you were.
This is one of the best beginnings to recovery. realising that we just CAN'T go on with life the way it is.

Now the big job is to not just use the site as a social network of sorts for fellow addicts, but to really get a plan of action how to get your life moving again.

I wish you much success in your progress.

TalmidChaim wrote:


Welcome....one of the things you'll see about the people on this site is that we don't really care what type of Judaism you practice....even if you don't practice it at all...and for that matter, you don't even need to be Jewish.

We are lust addicts on the way to recovery....not from bein' lust addicts.....many of us will always remain that way....like me; but we will recover.....not forever though...just for right now.

b'hatzlachah

Talmid Chaim (got it right this time)
do you have filters installed on your computer? i know that it is a hard step and scary to just block yourself out in such a drastic way. Maybe you should spend an hour reading forums and chatting until you are psyched up enough to do it. It might make it a lot easier to start the process of growing.

Thanks, Unanumun. I'm looking into the filter option right now. Actually, the idea of installing filters isn't really scary to me; it's just disruptive to other people in my household who need websites like youtube, etc. I know filternet allows you to customize the websites that are blocked, so I might do that. I need to do some more research, but I definitely think filters are a good idea. There's a few websites that I would have no problem never having access to again!

TalmidChaim wrote:
Who needs Youtube? There's a lot of really bad stuff there. Is it really "needed"?

If it is, filters can generally be overridden by the person with the password (like your wife). So you can filter it for yourself, but let others access it when "needed".

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am a little late, but its great to have you here. I would check out: Skep's tips and also GYE welcome page if you haven't done so yet