Though I have been more than 2 months without meeting any escorts or porn, and life is back to normal as the pre-addiction days. I am going to make it a conscious habit to kill any thoughts and temptation right when the occur and also kill the roots if possible.

The reason for the weeds story is as follows. I have set Friday 6am to 6:30 am to take my weed killer and walk around both my front and back yards every week. Today, I hardly saw anything to spray on and my yard is looking as clean as possible.

I started this at the same time when I stopped my addiction by turning on a switch. The thoughts (weeds) were all over my brain (yard) during the first few days. I had to take extreme measure (cold shower, slapping myself so hard that cheeks turned red to "wake-up", punching my boxing bag so had to kill - slapping really works - try giving yourself a power slap when you get these thoughts, the brain "wakes-up"). This is similar to what I had to do by showelling out and working hard to destroy overgrown weeds - have to spend a lot of effort and time to get it out....

But once I set a rigorous schedule and healthy habits and sticking to them - similar to taking out the weeds every Friday at 6AM, my thoughts are much more cleaner and I am able to destroy them when they are teeny wheeny.

Friends, its being very conscious about what your subtle mind is thinking, the weed can be so small that you might skip to spray it - by them time you come back next week it would have taken a solid rooting,

What worked for me in constant scrutiny of my thoughts and not letting it grow, I immediately get my brain occupied with more healthy habits. I have gotten in touch with all y b-school classmates via linkedin. Started talking to more of my family and friends by diverting my attention when I smell a weed.

You can leverage SAA and similar such groups, but your friends and family and professional collegues can be "unaware" helpers when you spot a weed. Just talking to them about work, life, friends and family helps kill the weed till my next appointment comes along.

watch your thoughts, tiny thoughts lead to desires, desires to compulsion and compulsion is addiction. What worked for me that last few weeks is to watch out for those tiny thoughts and quashing them immediately. Last few days, I have started analyzing why and where these thoughts are coming from to identify root cause. That will be my focus area in the coming months - i.e. analyze the thoughts before quashing them. There is a few risks in this as I will be spending time with my thoughts longer then I would wish to, but it is important for me to understand the root cause.

Felt so wonderful walking this morning, in glorious sunshine, to see a clear yard and have a clear brain. I can now feel what Tim Robbin's character in Shawshank Redemption felt when he finally was free...

Blessed day everyone - I have not fallen, and will not - will keep the yard clean!!!