NoFap, Maturity and Alchemy.

NoFap to me is a type of alchemy. It represents the transition period for me, from moving to debilitating isolation to embracing people and social situations. We are all stopping an act that we perform in the dark - by ourselves. When we do this challenge we are also effectively stopping other habits that have formed out of isolation as a result.

Subconsciously we know these need overriding also. If you are a chronic fapper - chances are you do other isolated activities aswell such as gaming or binge TV watching (there are others, this is subjective). For me personally, I created positive isolation habits like piano learning and drawing, YouTube was big for me too. - but haven't been able to feel as good about them as I could.
The NoFap challenge sparks a wave of self improvement that wants us to stop the isolated habits we've been cycling into our lifestyles.

We understand addiction as a simple reward mechanism in the brain - thats been exploited leaving us worse off. The Goal of my noFap journey is to "save up" on dopamine units. By Save up i mean to reduce the habits of isolation that I use by myself such as gaming, pmo etc. and Spend these dopamine units on something that will bring me a greater sense of fulfilment. i.e. socialising and lifting weights.

The dopamine reward circuitry strengthens the more you do an activity. So, its like a muscle. We stop the isolation habits muscle from getting any stronger and we focus on a muscle that will give us positive results instead.

So the nofap challenge is very subjective. Some of us already have strong interactions daily and have other habits that aren't reliant on isolation - and some of us have habits that are solely for us feeding our habits of isolation.

The truth is none of us need to feel isolated. It might feel rewarding, but we're closing ourselves off to opportunities we don't even know we want. Long story short. NoFap along with selective habit building can bring you more fulfilment. But the journey itself is a very painful one, as we're moving between polarised states of habit. Stay strong. Doesn't matter how long it takes - the key to nofap is social habit making & recognising states of isolation & habits that have arisen from isolation.

We'll experience benefits of nofap once we mature positive habits while letting go of ones that dont serve us.

Regards.

 

I'm aware of the book but haven't read it yet

 

Indeed! videos are my preffered medium too, its much faster to learn. I usually have a video running in the background as I work. I'll definitely give these a listen mate! My favourite combination of channels are:
Coach Corey Wayne (women & relationships)
Elliot Hulse (life goals and motivation)
Infinite Waters Diving Deep (Spirituality)

These have helped me immensely.