I’m 18. I noticed PMO was a problem when I hit rock bottom. Wanking to crazy shit and feeling miserable afterwards. Spending hours edging and finally succumbing to ejaculation. Hours wasted. Feeling like a zombie all the time, noticing my friends drifting away from me, noticing my social anxiety and general incompetence. I wanted to improve myself, I have, and I am continuing to do so.
Streaks are overrated, it’s not as if I’ve lost 335 days of effort, because I haven’t. The one thing that’s worse than relapsing is relapsing the second time, because that’s when you know your falling down the spiral of PMO. To be honest i thought i would never relapse ever again but i guess i proved myself wrong there.
Now remember, every time you relapse it’s because of your own actions, no one elses. The logic behind my relapse is that because my gf gave me a handjob, that subjected me to the feeling of orgasm. This made me feel what orgasms felt like (after 335 days jesus christ did I explode), and made me more susceptible to wanting to masturbate. I could have easily said no to a handjob, i could have easily went to my bed without my phone allowing me to fall sleep sooner and thus not be prone to masturbation. It was entirely because of my actions that I PMO’d.
What i’m saying is it’s about your lifestyle choices that determine the likelihood of a relapse. It’s about being consciously aware of your actions and the implications of those actions.
I’m a massively different person compared to myself 335 days ago. I’ve achieved a lot, and I wouldn’t be in the position I am just now if it weren’t for nofap. Even the day after (which is today), I felt slight head fog and lack of motivation, not to a severe extent but it was noticeable. I can’t really live properly being subjected to PMO, knowing what life is like without it makes me want to never go back, despite the minute of pleasure you get. My brain is changing constantly, growing consistently. I don’t want to tarnish that growth with PMO.
What I’ve really learned from Nofap is that it is your life choices that ultimately determine who you are. If you want improved confidence, improved motivation, and just to feel better generally, you can abstain from PMO, but thats not the only thing you need to change.
As is famously said on this sub, get back on the saddle and keep on going. It’s a VERY minor trip in my life journey, and it’s nothing to feel too badly about.
Please ask me any questions you have, I have been struggling with this for a few years now and I want to give as much info to people who dont really comprehend how powerful NoFap can be.
I’ve been unable to workout for the past 2 years due to a shoulder injury so I haven’t really seen any improvement in that respect. Yes I do have more facial hair but that’s because I’m still growing (I’m 18). I’ve consciously tried to improve my posture and I’ve had countless numbers of people telling me I have good posture and they almost seem jealous. I’ve had comments like ‘you’ve grown up a lot more within the past few months’ and ‘you’re really starting to come out your shell’ and I’ve noticed a hell of a lot more compliments in the workplace, more respect in general, probably due to improved competence.
I feel as if my base energy levels rose, and fluctuated depending on what day it was. The most impressive difference I’ve noticed is that I can work 10 hour shifts almost without fatiguing whereas before I would be like ‘fuck this I want to go home’, I enjoy work a hell of a lot more. I have a lot more energy in general undoubtedly.
As for porn, I would go through days, even weeks without evoking it in my mind. Although when I did, I automatically shut the thought down, like super fast. I had this overpowering ability to recognise unnecessary thoughts, and remove them, acting as if they are trivial.
If not for my increased sex drive I doubt I would have started a conversation with her without nofap.
As long as I live I want to be in a productive, motivated state. Because it makes me feel good pretty much all the time. I really despise the feeling of PMO because I can genuinely notice how it affects me. It’s not really something you do in moderation, PMO is too powerful for that, one PMO leads to another then you binge, and then you feel the crippling regret afterwards followed by necessary weeks of recovery. You really need to go all in when it comes to Nofap. You need to burn it into your brain that PMO negatively affects you and that it is not worth a moment of your time, even if it is in moderation.
Honestly man, the last thing I want to get into is a PMO binge, it’s practically like giving yourself a virus. I already experienced minor brain fog and a massively decreased libido today, and I know that becomes two fold if I continue to do it.