Day 38! Hey does a wet dream count as a relapse? Also, does anyone know how to avoid having wet dreams if there is a way?
No, even for Buddhist monks it’s not a break of their celibacy to have a wet dream. I don’t need to be more strict than them! I wouldn’t worry about it, not a whole lot you can do. Maybe try to avoid/redirect sexual thoughts during the day and before bed, but sometimes this is just going to happen. You’re good my friend
Didn’t check in yesterday, 45 days done. Need to stay relaxed but vigilant and determined for one more day
Its natural thing a wet dream, although one that were not about porn always messed with my streaks, theres few thing that should help you reduce them. Avoid fantsizing or lusting after women pictures, ect, basically try to lower your gaze, and controll thoughts, especially before bed. Avoid eating spicy foods before bed, and eating a lot before bed, sleeping on a full stomach puts pressure on that area and increases chance of wet dreams a lot. sleep on your right side, and dont even try sleeping on your stomach you will create friction when your asleep against the bed its it will cause wet dreams. and lastly dont also sleep on baggy short/ boxer, because they also creat tight friction. I just sleep on baggy pants or wear extra large shorts.
Hey buddy thanks for the support. To be honest it's taken me a little time to figure out what role alcohol has played in my life. For many years it was just intermittent/casual social drinking, never really a problem by itself, other than the occasional hangover. But as I got older, I noticed I was drinking more regularly just as a way to relax/escape, and also my body was not tolerating it so well anymore. That combined with how I tend to make stupid decisions if I drink too much, made me think this challenge would be a good time to go on an alcohol "hiatus" and see how that helps with things. I think it's been helpful for me to stay on track and also work on some real changes in my life.
Thats good to hear brother, im glade you quit because you saw how bad it influenced your life rather that just because its harmful, having a reason to quit something helps you keep your ground when your at your weakest, but remember why you quit. I was the same as you as i begun to search dopamine and read more about it, i realized i was not only addicted to porn, but all to short term pleasure, i was first starting to smoke socially and drink socially too, but quickly was drinking was doubling my alcohol intake from beer to drinking vodka alone, and like you my friend, i noticed almost my body being quickly tolerant to it, i remember getting drunk a week from drink half a bottle of vodka, then next week it did nothing and this continued as i to get worse every weak, same with smoking i started 4 years ago with 1 week now i ended up with 12/14 a day and it did nothing and i was increasing cigarettes intakes every month i was sensing something was wrong with my life before as i didn't feel happy even with drugs, porn made realize all addiction follow the same pattern, you start low you become tolerant so you need more to get off, and whats worse the more high dopamine doses you get from quick fixes, you life become more miserable in your eyes, and how couldn't it not, things in your life release small dopamine doses, and now your used to ton high doses, in short word you brain isn't sensitive to low dopamine doses anymore, i remember relapsing once and tried to smoke again, as i did i realized i just can’t go back to that old life, so i salut your change too brother lets all make it.
I quoted that part specifically, to agree with you 100% on this. What brought me here was realizing years of porn abuse had led to a tolerance level, where I needed more extreme kinds to feel the dopamine. They have a phrase for this, called "porn escalation". You start out with mainstream stuff and then your brain adapts, so you seek "novelty", and over time this results in consuming more graphic/extreme/risky content. This can actually create a kind of feedback loop that can affect what you are drawn to. It is artificial, but over time it can start to change you. I felt this happening to me and it shook me up pretty bad. However, luckily, I discovered that this process is reversible. Abstaining from PMO over many weeks or months (maybe even years), we can find ourselves "resetting" back to our natural state. Our "true" selves begin to return. Healthy positive thoughts and feelings come back to us. We can heal. You are not alone here. Many are fighting the fight with you. And believe me, there is hope, and there is a path back towards a better future. It takes time and commitment but the mind and body are resilient and we can recover. Keep going friend.
Day 9/90. Busy day, but still a pretty good one. This week will probably pick up, so I need to make sure I'm getting enough sleep.
