Guard Your Eyes

GuardUrEyes
A website for Jews struggling to maintain their moral purity in today's world
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Q. I have failed! I have fallen. After a whole month clean I lost it. I knew I was losing it and I couldn't stop myself. It started with facebook and I spent the whole day on the computer surfing. I even went home for supper and came back and thought I would control myself, but I didn't. I don't even want to look in the mirror I am so embarrassed. I just want to cry. After all that hard work, I have thrown it all away. Is there hope??

A. Of-Course there's hope!! You know when hope is lost? After 120. As long as you still have a breath in your lungs, you can turn your entire life around to Hashem. Every one of the great warriors on this forum has been exactly where you have been and have fallen countless times. The difference between a successful person and a failure is not that the successful person doesn't fall and the failure does. They BOTH fall again and again. But the successful person is the one who gets up again each time and resolves to do better next time and learn from his mistakes!

Think about it, if you were watching a great fight between a man and a Lion, would you be more impressed if the man had a sword and he slew the lion in one fell blow, or rather if the man used only his bare hands and there was a huge fight, and sometimes the man was down and the lion was at his throat and yet he managed to push off the lion again and again and finally he overpowers the lion and wins the fight?! Hashem gave us a beast inside us to slay. He could have made us mighty as the Malachim, but he wants us to earn true reward and bring down his Shchinah to dwell in the lowest places. And this can only be done by human beings, who fight with their bare hands in the darkness of this world. The fact that you fell now after doing so well means you are in the game for real, and Hashem is looking down at you with love and the crowd is roaring and the Malachim are cheering you on, waiting to see how fast you'll get back up and strike the beast a fatal blow. That's the name of the game!
 
The first step to joining the holy GuardUrEyes community is to
get the concept of "giving up" out of your lexicon. There is no such thing. These three sayings of Rebbe Nachman are our motto:
1) If you believe you can destroy, believe you can fix.
2) There is no such thing as Yiush in the world.
3) As long as the candle is lit, one can still fix.
 
So after the fall, where do we go from here? A fall doesn't just happen. There were various things that led to it (in your case, it was Face-book this time). We need to make a careful accounting of where we went wrong and how we can prevent this from reoccurring. In this way, we take the fall and uplift it to Hashem. We use the falls themselves to get STRONGER!
 
Small Example: I know someone who was doing very well for a long time, but one day he came across a movie that he happened to open, unaware that it was not Kosher. But since he had already started watching it, he couldn't control himself and pull himself away, and before he knew it he had fallen. So what did he do? He make a vow for a year never to open any movie video file on any computer unless his wife checked it first and told him that it was Ok for him to see. In this way, he made a strong barrier for the future to assure that this wouldn't happen again. He had learned from his fall that once he had already opened the video file, he was too weak to pull away. But with the new fence in place, he wouldn't have to face the Yetzer Hara head on in the same way again.
 
Every fall has a reason, and for every reason there are barriers that one can make to be sure he doesn't have to fight the Yetzer Hara head-on again next time. To all of us here, if you know that certain things keep bringing you to fall, sit down and think what you can do to assure yourself that you don't have to face these same desires head-on again in the future. And if you can't think of a sure enough way on your own, post your dilemma on the forum and together we'll all help you think of ways. That's the power of this community!


Battleworn posted on the forum:

Please understand that you haven't thrown it all away at all!!!

You ask if there's hope. There is certainly much more hope than ever before!!! The Gemoroh says "Habah letaher misaayen lo" and also "Biderech she'adom rotzeh leilech molichin osoh" Why does it speak in plural form:  misayen - they help him and molichin - they lead him? So the Maharsha and the Kedushas Levi explain that every resolution and every effort a person makes, creates a malach. And when the army of malachim gets large enough, it has the power to help overcome all the obstacles and lead him to where he wants to get.

 I think that now that you've done 32 days [gematria lev] you made for yourself a new heart. Now you're ready to go for a new brain with 48 days. It hurts to fall (I know the feeling very well) but the nachas ruach that we make when we ignore the fall and get right back up, is the greatest there can be!

Use the fall to learn from . Learn to always keep your guard up etc... And then the fall itself will become a zechus and turn you in to a Tzadik!


Mevakesh posted on the forum:

Though you are starting again from "day 1", don't think for a second that your past accomplishments are down the drain! Quite the contrary: Every Hisgabrus you have over the lousy Yetzer Hara is yours forever! No matter if you fall again after that Hisgabrus. 

The Steipler writes that one who was Misgaber over the Yetzer Hara of Hashchosas Zera L'Vatalah, even if he  goes on to fail and fail time and time again, it is that initial Hisgabrus which will guarantee him an ultimate triumph in this matter over the Yetzer Hara, no matter how long it takes.

I can attest to this personally. I tried and tried so many things so many times. I had already basically given up on myself and resigned myself to the fact that I will live my life as a sinner. yet, now that I look back and I marvel at being clean for 10 months (B'Chasdei Hashem) there is no doubt in my mind that that initial Hisgabrus I had for a very short time a very long time agois what propelled me to finally win my battle man years later.

Keep strong. Don't  listen to the Yetzer Hara's stupid logic. You are winning the battle and will ultimately win the war!