Hey everyone. I am new here but I am on the longest "NoFap" streak since I was 11 years old (I'm almost 30 now). I am on day 24 and honestly the only real benefit I have noticed is that I have a little more time every day and I'm slightly more helpful to those around me. On the negative side I am constantly bored and stressed. I am in higher education and have found that since starting "NoFap" I have ended up way more stressed over every problem than I normally would be to the point that i'm almost having panic attacks which I have never had before in my life. I feel terrible and I am wondering if its even worth continuing at this point. I know its not a great opening post but its how I am feeling right now.
Welcome! It's important that you try to think back to why you started rebooting in the first place? Are you in it for the side benefits? If so, then I regret to tell you that those may not come. Certainly, to most people, they aren't a strong enough motivator. Guess it's time to find something to do with your life. This happens to just about everyone - all of a sudden we have so much time on our hands. What do we do? Find new, positive hobbies. For example: Meditation, prayer, exercise, learning a new language, art, writing, etc. Search the forums for more ideas. Happens to a lot of people. Those are withdrawal symptoms. No one said this would be easy. But if you've got something to motivate you, then it's worth it at the end. Try getting to day 60 and then see how you feel. Good luck!
Actually I think with my experience that is a great thing, we used to watch pornography as buffer for our emotions. But actually emotions are harmless, you need to connecte with yourself, and realize that you can obtain and independancy about those emotions. They can't hurt you!
I got into it because of all the posts and videos of people changing their lives and having wonderful benefits. It just sucks that for me personally it seems to do the opposite. Only reason that I am not going back to my old ways right now is because I have invested 24 days into it. I don't even know how many days I really need to start seeing something positive from it. I am busy because I'm a full time student and my main worry is that because of the increased anxiety and stress I worry that it will effect my ability to study.
A life-changing experience won't come from just abstaining. These people worked hard to change their lives by doing other things during their reboot - exercising, taking cold showers, meditating, etc. As you're busy, I suggest you start out small - say, five minutes of meditation a day and 20-30 minutes of exercise at least 3 times a week.
So there is no specific benefit from nofap itself? I can do all those activities while fapping. If there is no real physiological benefit from rebooting itself for someone like me then what should be my motivation?
I didn't say that. I meant that things like better skin and stopping hair-loss among other things won't necessarily happen. True benefits: Redirecting your life energy to better use rather than wasting it, better concentration, more overall confidence, not hating yourself, etc.
Wait.... stopping hair-loss is a proposed benefit? How would that even work. I am actually curious now.
I mean hair-loss that theoretically began because of the addiction. The theory is that the dopamine-high addiction imbalances the body's self-maintenance, causing both physical and mental deterioration. Beating the addiction rebalances the body and stops things like hair-loss, but again, only if it was caused in the first place from PMO.
Correct. There is none. The only benefits are that you will waste less time with porn and may improve your sexual performance because you are not exhausting yourself with constant excessive fapping. Your online data usage will also go down, which may save you some money. But that's it, at least of what you can expect to happen.
Man, you don't necessarly can see it now, but of course abstaining is changing right now your life. You agree that the food you eat and the exercise you do influence your body shape and generally your health? Ok, then what do you think about your brain and your mind, you want to feed them with disgusting image of women abuse, wrong image of sex, you don't feel use right now by porn??? How porn used to come out by default when you feel angry, tired, sad, or lonely? You don't think it is better to connect with yourself and build memories of your daily life based on good memories. Everyday count! But some are not so memorable, but you now what? They are still important. The problem with our daily modern life is with forget to connect with ourselves every day! Actually to be happy you don't need to make major change except to life more slowly, I explain myself : take the time to enjoy what you already have, and develop your inner life, our private mindset doesn't have to be a jail where we get tortured by opposite ideas but somewhere amazing where we can develop and make grow our inner idea of the life : If you think that taking time for you is important and you want for example go to walk at the park, because you noticed it make you feel good, then do it! NoFap is not magic man! All of this is not a simple recipe, how it could be ahah, it would be too simple! No, you have to wake up! Move your ass and find some deep decision for yourself! I trust in you dude
aren't you curious to know what's it is like to be normal? like the men before instant, unlimited porn?
Hey. I’m fairly new here as well but I can tell you the amount of support and guidance that I’ve received has been life altering. In my case, porn led me to an incredible state of depression, isolation, guilt and anxiety. And I have no reason in my life to feel that way. I have a beautiful wife, daughter, home and business but porn took me away from my true reality. Don’t live another day with this horrible addiction. I have been where you are in school pursuing my masters and being addicted to extra sexual stimulation due to multiple female partners. Basically I was a bastard to far to many women until I met my soul mate. We are approaching 25 years of marriage and for the last 10 have had no intimacy whatsoever! That’s just crazy! I found found the support and encouragement from a member to finally muster up the confidence to tell my wife TODAY! I know it’s going to be hard, I know it’s going to hurt her, but I need to do this as she will always be my complete accountability partner. One day, you too will meet your soul mate, if you haven’t already. Too many have lost relationships with significant others due to this addiction. Experiencing the good, the bad, the ugly in the true/real world is living. Being addicted to porn is not really living, it’s nothing more than a fantasy that leads us away from reality/loved ones to utter isolation. I’ve only been porn free for a few days now. You have been for a long time in comparison. That’s one hell of a success! Recognize it, pat yourself on your back, hold your head high. Put all the additional time you have into becoming the best student/man you can possibly be!
