How Can I Overcome My Triggers?

I’m about 15 days into my latest NoFap challenge and so far it’s been going well. My record is 60 days and this time, I’m going for 75 days. If I make it to the 75-day mark, I’ll set a new goal. I should also mention that avoiding porn is easy for me and I haven’t watched porn in at least a few months. I won't be going back. Avoiding fapping is a different story though.

Ultimately, my reason for taking part in the NoFap challenge is to improve my self-confidence, to improve my self image, to be more productive with my time, to have a lot more sex, to date more women and to eventually be in an awesome, enriching relationship with a great woman that I love.

Until recently, the reason I'm not currently in a relationship with a great woman and the reason that I have yet to reach my career-related goals and personal goals is because I haven't been able to let go of my negative thinking, I haven't been able to let go of past setbacks and disappointments, I have been far too focused on the future (at the cost of the present) and most importantly, I haven't been able to let go of smoking pot everyday and binge drinking on the weekends (for the last decade or so).

As such, since beginning my latest NoFap challenge, I have decided to never buy pot again. Most of my friends smoke pot, so escaping it altogether will be difficult, but my intake of pot will at least be reduced by 80%, if I never buy it again. So far, this tactic has been working out very well and I have experienced more sobriety in my life than ever before. So far, I have only vaporized pot twice in the last fifteen days – a huge reduction. Prior this this, I would vaporize, smoke or eat pot at least twice a day.

Because most of my friends are very successful in all aspects of their lives and have had more of a positive impact on my life than a negative one, avoiding them isn't a good call at all.

I have also decided to reduce my alcohol consumption to a maximum of 3 beers per night and only on Fridays and Saturdays (should I choose to drink). This will also significantly reduce my intake of alcohol and this tactic has also been going well. So far, I have had 6 beers in the last fifteen days. Eventually, I’m sure I will get to a point where I don’t ingest any drugs at all (with the exception of the caffeine in coffee).

Between the two previously mentioned challenges and the fact that I have been moving forward with no pmo (on "hard mode"), I should be in great physical and psychological shape this year.

I definitely have a problem and I'm ready to do whatever it takes to solve it!

With that being said, do you think that the previously mentioned strategy is a good strategy for me to be employing?

Also, I noticed that I have two other triggers in addition to pot and alcohol. Those two triggers are career-related and life-related stress, as well as sex.

One of my NoFap challenge goals is to have more sex and yet, when I do end up having more sex and when I end up flirting with a lot of different women that I’m attracted to, in the past, it has made me far more prone to fapping. What can I do to avoid this? Some of my NoFap challenges in the past have come to an end because of this paradox.

In terms of career-related and life-related stress, what can I do to avoid fapping when I experience these things? I experience them on a daily-basis and they are induced by my high-paced, busy life in the digital marketing and digital media production worlds, they are induced by the fact that I workout like a highly-competitive athlete (5 to 6 days per week) and even though meditation, yoga, affirmations and reflecting on my life in extreme detail have been helpful in these areas, I want to develop a strategy to help me avoid fapping when these triggers are seemingly overwhelming. Stress and fatigue have been problematic for me, in terms of the NoFap challenge and otherwise. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Finally, because I have been so busy (in terms of my career) over the course of the last year, I haven’t gone on a vacation in a long time. I will be going to the Dominican Republic next month during Canadian spring break/reading week and I will be at an all-inclusive resort, which will obviously be filled with a lot of alcohol, in addition to a lot of women that will undoubtedly be attracted to me.

A detox retreat would have been ideal instead of the all-inclusive resort in the Dominican, but I didn’t have the time or the patience to find one that was cost effective and I simply need a vacation – I need to get out of here. Because I have now committed to going on this trip, how can I avoid the trigger of binge drinking on my trip and when I do get laid in the Dominican Republic, how can I avoid fapping (since sex is a trigger that I mentioned earlier)?

 

Hey,

Making it to 60 days was an accomplishment, but I want to avoid fapping in my life indefinitely.

Also, I enjoy challenges, so if I reach a particular goal, I immediately set a new, more challenging one. I apply that rule to all aspects of my life.

I'm not necessarily doing NoFap to "reboot", I'm doing it because it's part of an over-arching lifestyle evolution and improvement.