Someone sent us his story recently, and at the end he writes:
"I've come a long way, and with the help of this site and the forum, I'm able to climb further up. But till today, I still have a hard time talking to women and I feel like I blush every time I have to face one. Hashem should help us all".
Dear Yid, don't get discouraged. Anyone who was once addicted to these things may be easily triggered for a long time. This necessitates extra precautions when out in the street and when dealing with women. It's a disease, but we learn to control it. It's kind of like someone has a thyroid deficiency. It never goes away, but as long as he takes the pill each day, he's fine. With the help of the site, the forum and sometimes even therapy, we learn to control it and it becomes 100 times easier to deal with. However, it may never fully go away. This is what we were given by Hashem. And actually, it's a gift. Because once we learn the techniques and are able to turn away from bad every day, we never stop growing closer to Hashem. If it would just "go away" the game would be over. But Hashem has too much Nachas Ruach from the love we show him each time we turn away from bad. That's why he doesn't just "take it away", even after we've made great progress.