Is no P or no PMO legit?

I can only speak about my own experience.

For me, MO and P are forever associated together because of the neuroplastic law that says: what fires together wires together. Basically, if you perform certain activities together to such an extent they become a habit, then the one activity becomes a trigger for the other in the person's brain. So if you always watch TV and eat, after a while, you can't do one without the other--it will start to feel weird. You'll get withdrawal symptoms if you do one without the other. This has happened to me with P and MO. When I MO, I want P. When I use P, I want to MO.

So for me, MO is almost the same as P. Maybe for you, or others, it isn't; it depends on how long the addiction has been going on and whether the neural pathways are already formed in the brain. Read the Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge if you want to know the science.

 

I, too, can only speak for myself. I’ve found I can have healthy MO. No fantasizing about P. No P in my mind. And it works in my benefit and leaves me feeling healthy. So my main goal is avoid P. I do think this can be very challenging for some people though.

 

It depends on the person. Some are able to tolerate MO without any consequences just as some can play video games in moderation without it interfering with daily life. For me, O saps my energy, sometimes I get headaches, I can't study or work, I get brain fog, and I feel unmotivated to do anything except sleep until I recover 3-4 days later. I'm not convinced MO is healthy, but it's not universal: not everyone experiences these negative reactions. I prefer having urges over the post-O side-effects.

 

I think everybody has their unique set of “benefits.” What is the most predominant with me is the mental clarity, confidence, productivity. I doubt I feel exactly as if I never MOed, but I actually feel healthy if I cut the P out. I don’t obsessively M, I don’t use M as an escape or anything like that. So I want to be clear that MO only work within the parameters of it being healthy in my life.

I’m also in a long term relationship. For me, cutting out O would leave my partner unhappy, and that leaves me unhappy. Because I don’t seem to struggle with an addiction to MO, I am not concerned with eliminating it from my life.

on the other side though, cutting out PMO is an awesome accomplishment and it will leave you feeling powerful, better, and healthy too. For me, I’m just using the 80/20 rule. I’m trying to do 20% of the work for 80% of the results, instead of 100% for 100%. If I wasn’t able to healthy M or O. I would need to do that 100% though.

 

Stay strong