I’ve just made my 90 days without relapse. I did this in hard mode+, which is no fap, no porn, no sex, no sexual stimuli or imagery of any kind (cutting out movies/tv shows, magazines etc). Basically, it’s been a monk-like experience for me. I did this because of the appearance of PIED slowly creeping into my sex life. That, and the fact that I was heavily addicted to porn and edging on a daily basis.
I won’t repeat a lot of the same observations that most of us experience here. Needless to say, I experienced most, if not all, of the common ones. Initial superpowers that I felt have levelled out but I still have increased confidence, social prowess and so on. I’ve also found this journey to be a catalyst for improving other aspects of my life such as diet, new hobbies, and career.
I was a raving mad porn addict. Meaning, I catalogued, downloaded, collected, edged and drooled over my favourite porn. Do I miss it? Not really, no. And it’s odd for me to say that, because it was like heroin to me. I know that may sound overly dramatic, but that’s how it was when I look back now. So I thought for sure I would miss it, but I guess in many ways I just haven’t spent time thinking about it. It’s in the past now. It’s a chapter closed on my life.
What now? Porn free for life, 100%. I’ll also continue a semi-NoFap lifestyle and will fap once a month unless I have had sex in that month. I may tweak this formula a bit (say, one every fortnight), depending on how I feel and what seems to work best. Needless to say, I don’t believe in permanent NoFap. Porn is the real issue here, not masturbation (unless it’s extreme).
I won’t be on this sub much moving forward. I contributed almost every day over the past 90 days and it’s been a great help and we are a great community – thanks to all of you for advice and support. But of course, I need to move on and let someone else contribute. Time to reset that badge, too.
If anyone has questions about my reboot process, I’d be happy to answer them here. I can’t say if I am “cured” of PIED as yet, but I do have excellent signs of my brain rewiring back to normal and responding to ‘normal’ things instead of artificial stimuli. The key thing I’ve noticed after this journey is that I control my sexuality now, not the other way around.
Perhaps I’ll report on the semi-NoFap lifestyle once I have some good data. But for now, farewell, and good luck to everyone on this journey.
Curbed
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