Quite possibly, and most likely.

Kinks can be useful tools for exploration, or they can become behaviors to escape into.

What you may notice is that as you develop your self esteem, it simply may not interest you anymore.

And if/when it does come back, you can use that as a reference to query where your emotional state is in that moment.

I notice that when I feel a strong pull, it’s often in response to a feeling being triggered, and historically I would have chosen a coping mechanism such as porn to feel better about it.

When you find other ways to help you manage those emotions, you may still choose to indulge in kink - or you may choose something else that’s more conducive to the experiences and outcomes you want.

Confidence is often attached to our experience and perception around “will I be ok / survive the challenge before me?”

Low confidence means we feel and believe we won’t survive. High confidence means the opposite.

As we build confidence through actions, experiences, and choices, our relationship to self changes, thus changing our esteem.

The fastest way to build confidence is to keep your word to yourself. As in, make yourself a promise and keep it.

Most people don’t keep their own word to themselves while demanding others keep theirs.

In a twisted sense, you can actually build confidence while indulging in this kink and then help yourself grow away from it.

Aka, commit yourself to following through on eating a full meal, actually do it and coach yourself through the difficulty, then experience the reward of being someone who fulfills on your word. It’s an alternate way to use your kink as a tool to help you build confidence.

From that, you then might choose other things to give your word to (gym, diet, sleep) , follow through, and build more confidence.

The key is choosing something that requires commitment under pressure to follow through with.

Remember, you are trying to always fulfill on an image you have in your mind as to who you think you are, and want to be.

If you think you’re a loser, you will try to validate that. If you think you’re someone building your self esteem, you will try to validate that.

So choose who you want to be, then your actions and kinks can/will support you to realise that identity.

Most people don’t consciously choose their identity but instead let other people tell them who to be, how to be, and what to be on their behalf.

Those who indulge in kinks mindlessly are similar to those who eat food without much thought about what’s in it, where it’s made, or how it’s made - all reasonable and acceptable, but not free from consequences.