n this episode of the Free From Porn podcast, host Richard Young dives into one of the most overlooked pressure-cookers of the year: the holiday season. For many, Thanksgiving and Christmas bring joy… but they also bring stress, old triggers, family dynamics, and emotional weight that can feel overwhelming.

But what if those very triggers were invitations—not setbacks?

Richard unpacks why moments of pressure are often the same moments that used to drive you to medicate with porn… and how this season can become a sacred opportunity to renew your mind, release old patterns, and walk in the peace that’s already yours in Christ.

From Paul’s words in Philippians 4 to the practice of getting alone with God in the “secret place,” this episode shows you how to turn holiday anxiety into holy ground. You'll learn how to:

• Bring your anxieties to God instead of numbing them
• Recognize triggers as opportunities for transformation
• Let the peace of God guard your heart and mind
• Build new habits of freedom in the moments that used to break you
• Step back into family settings with calm, clarity, and Christ’s life flowing through you

Whether you're listening before Thanksgiving or weeks afterward, this conversation will help you walk into any environment—family gatherings, stressful moments, old memories—with peace, gratitude, and unshakeable identity.

This holiday season, your buttons aren’t setbacks.
They’re invitations to freedom.

In this episode of the Free From Porn Podcast, Justin and Richard kick things off with a hilarious question: “What’s the manliest thing you’ve ever done?” What starts as jokes about peeing standing up and awkward gym compliments quickly turns into a story that nearly ends in disaster—Richard almost drowning at a Hawaiian beach because he fought the waves instead of letting himself float.

But that moment becomes the doorway into a much deeper conversation about white-knuckling, rumination, anxiety, and why so many men exhaust themselves trying to “fight the waves” of life, urges, or stress.

Justin breaks down the real meaning of Philippians 4:13 (hint: it’s not about doing backflips for Jesus), and together they unpack why:

• Most people aren’t sinning because they’re evil—they’re medicating because they’re overwhelmed.
• Trying to out-think your anxieties only drags you deeper into the rip current.
• Freedom isn’t found in controlling the waves—it’s found in learning to float.

If you’ve ever felt like life is “lifeing,” like you're trying to fix circumstances you can’t fix, or like your urges spike the moment stress rises, this episode will feel like a breath of fresh air.

You don’t need more force.
You don’t need more self-hatred.
You don’t need to swim harder.

You need to learn the art of endurance, peace, and floating with Jesus in the middle of the waves.

This episode will show you how.

Tune in now.

In this episode of the Free From Porn Podcast, Richard Young unpacks one of the most counterintuitive truths about freedom — that trying harder often makes things worse. Drawing from psychology and Scripture, Richard explains the “law of reversed effort,” showing how willpower alone can reinforce the very habits you’re trying to break.

You’ll learn why striving, white-knuckling, and obsessing over sin only deepen the struggle — and how true transformation happens when you relax into grace.

If you’ve ever felt frustrated that your best efforts still lead to failure, this episode will help you understand why. You’ll see that freedom isn’t found in more effort — it’s found in changing the picture you hold of yourself.

Key themes:

• Why trying harder reinforces bad habits
• The law of reversed effort and imagination vs. will
• How identity in Christ rewires your behavior from the inside out
• The power of relaxing into grace instead of striving for freedom

Listen now to discover how to stop fighting for freedom and start living from it.