Over 2 months pornfree has improved my confidence and erections.
Hasn’t been without its challenges, but I am proud to say I have not watched or fapped to pornography in over 60 days. This is my longest streak to date, and I don’t plan on breaking it this time around.
Hope this minor accomplishment of mine gives some encouragement to those just starting their journey. If I can do it, you can do it too. 🙂
Benefits I’ve experienced
Broadly speaking, my improvements tend to revolve around greater engagement with reality and interpersonal relationships. The most noticeable one for me is my confidence. I used to have really bad anxiety about my presence in public spaces. I’d say at around 45 days in, this feeling had substantially subsided. My conversations with others feel more vibrant and genuine. On an intimate level, sex feels more pleasurable and engaging. I began my journey for this reason exactly, as I was suffering from PIED and couldn’t figure out what the issue was. After 30 days, I was able to keep strong erections and did not fetishize sex as much as I used to.
Still adjusting
There have been some downsides, however. Contrary to popular sentiment, I have noticed my drive to complete certain objectives (i.e university work) has diminished significantly. This became most apparent to me at around the two-week mark, which I chalked up to being a period of flatline. I do not think a lack of porn is completely to blame, as there have been many other factors that have contributed to this- burnout being one. In saying that, however, my brain is having quite a difficult time adjusting to the decreased amount of dopamine. This has led to a substantial increase in cravings for pornography in the last 14 days, which has been a challenge to say the least.
While the benefits certainly outweigh the negative, these last 60 days have taught me a lot about myself and my ability to persist. My one word of advice would be not to ignore any of the cravings or inclinations you have to watch porn. That doesn’t mean to act on them, to be clear, but certainly don’t repress them. Doing so would be a recipe for failure, as repression always comes back with a vengeance- that being potential for relapse.
I hope this post was of value to you. Please let me know if you have any other questions or need clarification for any of the things I have said here. Good luck on your journey!
LINK – Over 2 months pornfree!
By – abmxrtal
For more stories that can improve your confidence in the recovery process see our Rebooting Accounts pages.