Part 2/10:
Austin reflects on his first exposure to pornography at a young age, around 10 years old, marking the beginning of a long relationship with addiction. "It can be like porn finds them," he admits, noting the innocent yet harmful ways in which many young people stumble upon explicit material. This evolving relationship with porn morphed from a harmless exploration into a full-blown addiction, something he fully recognized only in his late teens and early twenties.
For years, Austin lived half-heartedly, blocked by shame and deception from confronting the reality of his addiction. He found himself wandering through life as a “shell of a person,” pretending everything was okay while a deep emptiness gnawed at him.