I am 20 years old, pretty much known porn and masturbation was a problem ever since I started as a kid. I began trying to quit when I was 15 but couldn’t.
I discovered the /r/NoFap community about last year November.
Wow my life is so different to what it was 3 months ago! Firstly, a big thank to you guys here. The following posts were very significant to me: http://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/comments/2mfdn4/long_post_90_days_holy_shit_a_reevaluation_of
http://www.yourbrainrebalanced.com/index.php?topic=15558.0
http://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/comments/2qi9hg/the_elephant_rope/
http://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/comments/25d4ei/porn_addiction_is_just_the_symptom/
There are no secrets to NoFap. Only discipline and a desire to be a better man. For me NoFap is about respect. Respect for myself and respect for women.
For the last 5 years I have been continuously abstaining and then relapsing. So what was different this time? And the answer is: mind-set. Instead of focusing on abstaining I focused on improving my life and environment. I don’t think anyone has enough mental will to quit an addiction while the temptation is right in front of them. So remove it! One of the first things I did was start going to sleep earlier. I shut my pc down at 10 pm sharp, have a cold shower and go to bed.
The problem I had with PMO was that it was a vicious cycle: I hated myself because I watched porn and I watched porn because I hated myself. It took me a while to realise this but I found about 4 months ago I really didn’t like who I was. I was lonely, overweight, and quite a vulgar person to be honest. And I blamed PMO everything. You want superpowers? They come at day 1 when you realise that you are responsible for you own life and are the only person who can change it.
So I started implementing a lifestyle of the kind of man I wanted to be, the one I imagined I would be at the end of 90 days. I started small: I started exercising 3 times a week and eating better. Losing weight and getting fitter is much easier than NoFap! I started listening to more music, cut back on the computer games (Dota 2), spent more time outside, socialised more with my family, even took to writing in a journal. And the emotions came (porn really desensitizes you). I can be super happy and sad in one day. And confidence came. Heck my friends were even telling me they thought I was taller! I even asked my crush out.
It does get easier guys. I no longer crave porn or masturbation. Sure, I get horny all the time but porn and masturbating is something I just don’t do anymore. Also did I mention I feel fucking great 🙂
LINK – 90 Days Hard mode
by chaos_walks
UPDATE – 310 Days Hardmode
I had an addiction.
Porn crept in when I was a kid, too young for me to make the strong decision when it was needed. I ended up with the biggest struggle I have ever had to face. Eventually the shame and guilt evolved to point where I could no longer separate me and my hate for lust. I began to hate myself. I hid it from the world, I thought: “it doesn’t harm anyone, so who really cares?” But I was wrong. It brought pain, it affected all my relationships: my relationship with God, my friends and my family, my relationship with myself and all the people whose lives I could have influenced along the way. It affected the way I loved, experienced emotion, my understanding of intimacy and the way I interacted with people. The world became bland and dull and porn had become a crippling injury sucking away motivation, purpose and opportunity until life just glazed between dopamine fixes.
But now I am free.
I never felt so much joy before. Each emotion is so vivid and tangible. I cry, I laugh. Everything and everyone has beauty. People are palpable and real and my relationships grow stronger by the day. Music gives me an incomparable delight. I find work satisfying and exercise enjoyable, and there is a clean discipline in my life. I delight in serving the Lord and the people around me. I am a man of confidence, with a mental toughness and physical presence that exudes a quiet self-assurance. Scarred I may be, but I am the warrior who has won, no longer bound by the shackles of porn.
Seize the day guys. You have to want this! This is not about the bad
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