Personal Ethnography Analysis

To appreciate how addiction affects an individual, I have been assigned the task to abstain from something significant to me for nine weeks. One must understand that I have been in recovery programs (12 step programs) since 1978, first to deal with my father’s addiction then later to deal with my own. As Wilson (1939) the writer of Alcoholics Anonymous says the disease of addiction is “cunning, baffling, and powerful! Without help it is too much for us” (pp. 58-59). This is evident in my mind; as I attempt to give up pornography for this assignment, mind races back to the thoughts and feelings I had as I gave up alcohol and drugs. I also am reminded how I had to restructure my life around my sobriety and meet many other challenges. To recognize the value of my new struggle, I will address some pertinent questions about my journey throughout the rest of this document. 1a. Upon reflection of my thought process around giving up my daily intake of pornography my first thought was “Do I really have to give up something else?” I have given up so many things that I had imbibed to cope with stress, such as alcohol and other drugs, caffeine, sugar, Tran’s fats, and nicotine. I eat well balanced meals, I meditate daily, I work out three to six times a week, I go to the doctor regularly, sleep eight hours a night, and I explore my motives constantly. I am very …show more content…
Consequently, I started my plan for handling my new found free time from pornography and sought out something healthy I could replace it with. My first thought went to food but quickly circumvented that idea because I eat to much as it is. I then thought, “When do I use pornography the most?” I tend to use it in the middle of assignments when I am feeling stressed and overwhelmed. I also use it when I am bored and cannot find anything on television, thus I decided that I was going to do sit-ups to relieve stress while working on assignments, and when I get bored with TV or reading I will replace it with video

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