The dark side of NoFap in the long run

Greetings fellow members of the NoFap journey!
I have been doing NoFap for one year and three months now with one relapse half a year ago.

I have experienced no benefits (or at least I do not feel them) and only the contrary.
The only exception might be that I can brag to friends about my NoFap streak and get their awe.

I often struggle to concentrate on tasks I do (working out, reading, writing, math etc.) and struggle to sleep at night because I am horny. My balls also hurt at times. I currently do not have a girlfriend to help me resolve such inconveniences.

I have never watched pornography in my life and consequently never been addicted, though I did masturbate in moderate quantities prior to NoFap.

Furthermore, the following questions arise;
1. Could it be that NoFap is not for me?
2. If I continue my NoFap journey; should I do something differently?

Thanks in advance and have a wonderful day!

 

The primary reason I begun is that I wanted to be a powerful man. I felt equally powerful over a year ago before NoFap as I do now... This might be in part that I have worked out for a few years now and never watched porn in my life let alone was addicted.

 

I have heard in the passed that semen for men can serve as energy and this was also one of the primary reasons I started. Another perspective is that after over a year of NoFap I do not have more energy than before. I have also had worse concentration sometimes when I do daily tasks because of being too horny. If NoFap is so good for me; why does my life feel equally good with and without it?

 

I do hope my body is going under changes as you say. Another perspective is that I have not felt any of them except that I struggle to concentrate now and my balls sometimes hurt. I have been taught that suffering now to get something in the future is the right way in life so after one year+ of NoFap, I am able to suffer through NoFap for 5 more years, 10 more years or 50 years if I want. So far after one year though it has only brought about inconveniences and provided no benefits. Hence, while I could do NoFap for 50+ years I sometimes do not see it as beneficial for me.

What do you mean by that I should not try to push myself too hard BTW?

 

I called it the dark side as I have experienced some of the aforementioned downsides in the OP. Your descriptions of my situation appear to be precise. I did masturbate before but maybe 2-3 times a week on average which does not seem that much.
I will rethink if the NoFap journey is for me.

 

Yep, never even watched that junk.
Before doing NoFap I would masturbate a few times a week and then I had compulsions I guess. I have had 3-4 strong urges to masturbated during 1 year+ of NoFap and also small urges from time to time. In short; I have had a compulsion to masturbate sometimes but not often.
I did not expect any super powers at all. I expected small benefits like increased confidence and more willpower. My confidence was good before I started NoFap and still is now; so it is not like NoFap ruined it, just did not have a big effect. I have some more willpower now than before I started NoFap; however correlation does not mean causation. I contribute this to planning my days better than before, knowing better what I want and consequently being able to work for longer.

 

I completely agree that NoFap is not magic at all and could only be a useful tool in one´s arsenal.
It appears as if what you are hinting towards is that NoFap might not be for me. I will have spend a few days thinking about if I should continue with it or not.

 

I appreciate your honesty!

I have never looked at porn and from my relapse in February to July I was not masturbating and not having orgasms. I did have sexual thoughts about women and did have wet dreams 2-3 times a week. Not sure if this qualifies as hard mode or not.

As aforementioned, I have never watched porn and never been addicted to faping so I think it is logical that NoFap did not have an effect on me.

Were you addicted to porn and masturbating before you did NoFap?

 

I have always been a believer that the porn industry is really dirty and something I would never want to indulge myself in. I believe Steve Jobs had the same ideology when he banned porn from iPhones and said "Go buy Android if you want porn"

What you are saying that there might be some effects that are small and hard to notice seems plausible.
Indeed it seems that I am often just burning of sexual energy and imagine what force I could be if only I could redirect it properly.

I would truly appreciate if you share some of the Kindle pages with me. Let me contact you in the PM´s!