A List of helpful tools to get over withdrawal sympstoms and how to overcome urges

Thanks bro. Really helpful.

 

Dunno dude this has gone too far

 

If it's going to be a lot of information it should be organized in some way. Though people can always do a keyword search most don't, and I think one of the problems is people are not inclined to really think about it. Sometimes just trying stuff doesn't do it, you have to know what to try otherwise it can be like you're totally going at it blind.

 

Day 22.

After getting acquainted and in a habit of not consuming any filth, consuming self harming substances in short meeting my goals, yesterday I finally started making some progress of the task which I actually want to do but was procrastinating since very long. I felt the energy and enthusiasm while pursuing my hunch, the inner call which was saying to me that I must be doing this, since very long. Today is day 2, of my other habit which I want to develop, which demands a lot of my focus, long hours of focus and perseverance.
Well, from my nofap journey I have learned this that focus is a skill and this can be learned and accordingly be used to one's pleasure. Especially when you are young. Just like I keep distance from the potential triggers which can eventually end me up with a relapse, I need to be disciplined enough to be focused and do what I am supposed to do as opposed to what is easy. So its a skill, I have ample store of energy especially sexual energy, I just need to channelize this energy to make a new habit and slowly steadily with time my this new habit will start providing me dopamine, and thats the ambition I want to create my own habit which gives me dopamine rather than regular filthy habits in which maximum of the crowd is struggling.
Dopamine is extremely important harmone for existence of humans, it gives us a sense of purpose for living and since our forefathers have been practicing reproduction, naturally we will get dopamine if we reproduce, thats the sole reason behind our natural inclination towards our opposite gender, their body parts and exploration fantasies and with the advent of the technology that pristine human connection get swapped to the pixels, which is self harming. So we are born with this instinct. Its a basic instinct of a human being. But we can control these instincts and achieve what so ever we desire, just through discipline.

“Discipline weighs ounces and regret weighs tons.” - Jim Rohn

 

I don't understand what part of your opinion is different. Definitely trying something is better than doing nothing, but you're also saying to study the theory of why it works and how. I'm certainly not saying not try in the first place, but sometimes people try one thing and they didn't get results so they just assume it doesn't work, but it may be that they were doing it wrong, or they should be doing it along with other stuff (like NoFap along with other lifestyle changes) but that doesn't mean what they tried "doesn't work" - it means they didn't understand the way it works so they were not implementing it correctly

 

Okay so I'll throw in something: Timing. It may not seem like a "tool" but it is actually extremely important and from what I can honestly tell completely ignored by most fapstronauts, because people never say anything that discriminates WHEN to use the different tools.

Think about the overall timing and trajectory of reboot: In the beginning it's harder to resist urges and so forth, so of course that calls for different strategies. With people in regular addiction recovery they may suggest people go to 90 meetings in 90 days, some people go more than that. With people who do not have that a meeting for everyday in their area they'll even go to stuff that doesn't relate to their particular addiction but just so there's some support.

That's just an example, but it gives you an idea of how people deal with the initial period (which you'll notice is the same as the "whole" reboot period whereas they only consider the 90 the beginning!) which is known to be harder.

But it gets more specific than this. Look at the period of a day. It makes sense to do certain things in the morning, like eat right and maybe a little exercise or some kind of movement, because you're starting your day. It might be that in the evening something like meditation is appropriate. But again lots of people never ever talk about WHEN to do any of these things, and these are just very general examples. And you might guess that sleep is another one.

So to put it in a tangible form, it means having a SCHEDULE. My guess is with most addiction any time is a good time for drugs/PMO/whatever. OR if you find most of the time you relapse in the evening, then obviously that's a clue you should pay attention to how you structure your time. If you're fast asleep you're not going to be watching porn and fapping.

Beyond this it's a matter of looking at details and people can have their own thread/journal to get input for their situation, but it's important to get the importance of the concept in the first place. There's a biological basis for this, I always found it interesting that some oncologists give more chemo to their patients at a SPECIFIC TIME of day - because the body can tolerate twice the toxicity so it's safer and more effective when TIMED that way. Hormones spike in the morning so that's why you get morning wood, etc.

So compare this with "whenever you think of it" it's clearly the better way to go. All lifestyle changes are supposed to be REGULAR anyway, whether you're talking about exercise, diet, brushing or whatever. Don't fool yourself into thinking you're doing something because you just have the idea that you'll do it when you feel like it, that's almost like not doing it at all.

 

Well a lot obviously depends on individual life situations, I have a 9-5 schedule and I go to bed around 10. (9:30 is logoff time per the No Screen challenge) As I mentioned I just sleep until I naturally wake up instead of interrupting myself. When I need to I can wake up an hour early without alarm, and when I need to recover I have given enough time in the morning so that an extra hour is also not a problem. I've shortened meal timing along with that, currently last meal at about 4pm though I had gradually gone back as far as 3.

I should back up, in the beginning I had actually used sunlight to reset the clock. (look up SCN, master clock in the body) They say it only takes something like 10 days though obviously you continue with it. We know about vitamin D and sunlight, that is through the skin - the SCN is through the eyes. Also interestingly D (hormone) being associated with light, melatonin, another hormone is associate with darkness and specifically lack of blue light - which LED lights of various sources including displays and car headlight, street light all have plenty of so I also use a pair of amber goggles at night to block the blue though my bedroom just has an incandecent bulb at this point anyway and that's part of the poitn of the No Screen challenge.

So it's a fair amount of detail, and the goggles are obviously used at night and not during the day. Also since you want to expose the eye/brain to entrain the SCN during the day you at least wouldn't be wearing your sunglasses ALL the time just to look cool, the optimal time is apparently until 10:30, which is 11:30 now/PDT since it's an hour ahead with Daylight Savings time here for me so plenty of time even for people who are not early birds or want a schedule that's later.

 

I call my method the WEST willpower method

Workout-mix in weights, HITT, and hot yoga
Eat right-fruits, vegetables meats, lower carbs/sugar
Sleep well-7 to 8 hours a night while taking ZMA
Take Cold Showers-everyday

This is more of an alphamale mindset for men who want to strengthen their willpower while looking and feeling good. I personally have found success with it as my pied has been cured and my confidence gets a little better everyday.

 

Thanks for your reply.
Earlier I used to count days on my diary journal, but I failed so many times every morning I used to right day0, next morning again day0, sometimes I used to reach day3, then again day0. My best was day33. After that I binged for so long to porn, after getting depleted I started with an mobile app, every night I used to enter my entry that whether the day went clean or not, my best got increased to my all time best day66, then again I relapsed, binged for many months and here I am on this forum.
I read somewhere that when you are accountable, when you have this feeling that someone is reading your journals, your daily entries, then you get bound to be disciplined. Thats why I think days are just a number, but its really important to convince your self with days result, in that way you actually get content that yes now I am at home. Like if you achieve a successful nofap of 90days you might or might not get that feeling. I have not been there but I really want to be there. As far as this forum is concerned I enjoy writing here, who knows some random human who might be struggling through his day gets motivated reading my post and gains strength to fight his battles. Thats what we are here for, humans. We are social animals, we need each other to progress to prosper and learn from other people. I gain my strength to fight by this feeling of giving and helping someone. Thats what my motto is.

“You can receive just by giving.” - Anonymous

 

Bread and beer can actually weigh you down if you have too much. Making you unproductive. For me it’s all about the right balance.

 

In general it is life balance like you said in the other comment. Plenty of people think short term, if you're tired or sleepy they go "drink some coffee" - and that's pretty much their entire strategy along with the alarm clock. These are both things outside yourself. Sure you need to deal with diet (coffee) and external stimuli (alarm) but rather than that kind of arbitrary dependence I have worked it into the normal routines. As far as diet it has to do with my meal, which though not always good I also take supplements to balance it out though I'm not using it all the time, I can get by without taking stuff if I make a good smoothie and some "supplements" are superfood powders so it could be considered food. As far as the stimuli it's built into natural timing cycles, essentially it's just that little bit of daylight coming through the window, even with a tree there and overcast days it works.

So that's on a daily cycle. I can't say I have identified or can sense a monthly one, I have read there is one for men but it's subtler than for women. For people who find themselves in a pattern of always relapsing at 30 it would be more interesting to me to look at how it seems to be a regular interval than "awww I had SO many days and now I'm back to 0." Also there is some evidence that different neurotransmitters are dominant at different times of the month too, and certain kinds of work would be more appropriate at those times. It may be what's needed is at different times different things in your routine needs to be emphasized instead of just using one exact routine every day all the time.

 

1- No caffeine/ limited sugar. That stuff sets off the libido pretty badly

2- Get out and do something. even if it's just for so long, find something that will keep you occupied and out of the house.

3- take some time for yourself. Resting up is something everyone needs to do, especially in these times.

4- learn your triggers and what/when they are most likely to happen, and apply the above steps.

5- know this is all difficult and painful