I’m a 24 year old guy from Sweden who decided to try this out to see if it would have any effect on me. I used to MO from 1 to 3 times a week and I didn’t feel that I was overdoing it.
I haven’t been a big porn user, it could be me watching some during a weekend and then watching some again first after a month or two. But after I saw the TED presentation “Your brain on porn” I decided to quit it entirely, which thankfully wasn’t so difficult in my case.
I choose to start the challenge at a strategic time: I moved from where I usually live for three months because of studies. As a bonus I got to rent a place as a lodger which I found helpful to avoid MO since I felt it would be inappropriate doing it there. It was also helpful that the course I was taking was very important for me getting the job I really wanted, which made me motivated to put much time into studying and leaving less dead time to feel/notice sexual urges.
The first week went by fast without me even noticing any urges. Probably due to me being stressed out moving far from home, moving in with strangers and finding my way in a new city. But after I got more comfortable with the situation, after another week or so, I started to have spontaneous erections more often. Mostly morning woods but also when going to bed at night. Also sexual fantasies started to pop up in my mind more often, some more difficult to shake off than others. Most of them occurred when I was alone eating a meal or going to bed. Those nights were the most difficult to make trough. Had I been living at home I would probably had relapsed here, but the thought of being in another’s home helped me to resist.
Later on I found a post here at nofap about kegels to make use of my erections and at the same time making them go away. I’ve tried doing kegels earlier in my life but had a difficult time doing them. But when having an erection I found it easier to do the exercises since I could better feel/see that I was doing them right. I soon found out that it was the kegel holds I was looking for. Quick kegel flexes felt like masturbation and only made the erection harder to get rid off (sorry, had to put the pun somewhere). While the kegel holds gradually made me more flaccid after each hold. After the rediscovery of kegels I started to do them about four days a week, two times a day. Later on I was able to do them also when flaccid.
On the 42nd day, about four in the morning, I had a wet dream. I’ve had nocturnal emissions before in my life but never woken up from them. This time it was different as I was woken up by it and also felt it in my half awake state. I always thought it would be a pleasurable experience but man, this one wasn’t. The contractions of the PC-muscle was so strong that it hurt and I was really sore afterwards. Maybe I had gone to fast with the kegel exercises? When I had woken up completely after the NE I was somewhat confused since the wet dream was basically me masturbating in the dream and since I was half awake during the NE it was difficult for me to tell if I had masturbated or not. But afterwards I knew it was just like any other NE I had, the only difference was that I remembered the dream and woke up in the middle of it. I felt okay for the rest of the day, except for the soreness.
The next week I had an internship in a city close to where I usually live, so that week I was at my own home. It was this week, the 48th day, when I MOed. I didn’t feel like I “failed” or anything like that since I had decided beforehand that I would go for at least 30 days and if I had unbearable urges afterwards I wouldn’t fight them. The following weekend I went to a friends party where he was the only one I knew. Even though I had MOed I felt it was easier than normal (for me) to start conversations (see noted changes below) with the other guests that I never meet before. After that weekend I felt that abstaining from MO wasn’t a must to develop my social skills and thus I put nofap on the shelf for the time being.
Noted changes Before I start listing changes I noticed I just want to say that it’s difficult for me to know if these changes occurred solely because of nofap. Since there were so many other changes happening at the same time, it’s hard for me to tell. Before I started the course I was unemployed and pretty depressed and stressed out from the situation I was in (more than just unemployment). Anyways here’s all noted changes, small and big, that I’ve experienced during this nofap period:
First and foremost feeling like I had more energy
Being able to look up, stand up straight and also look at other people longer than usual
Starting conversations and keeping them going felt somewhat easier
I noticed my penis being generally bigger when flaccid (guessing it being a weak constant erection?)
Now and then after shaking out the last drops after urinating I noticed them have a consistency similar to precum (being more viscous, making a “string” when falling)
Being more physically sensitive, not only down there but in my body in general
Having harder erections (probably also attributed to the kegel exercises) and occurring more often
Having more thoughts about starting an account at a dating site/meeting people
Having trouble falling asleep (may also be due to me sleeping in a new environment)
What happens now? I still feel that I have a need for sexual release and with me being shy and gay I don’t see myself in a sexual relationship in a foreseeable future. Therefore I will probably continue masturbating since I never really felt bad from MO. However, in the future, I think I will try to space out MO somewhat more since that 48th-day-MO felt really good.
Thoughts When I started reading this reddit I started to question if masturbation is “bad” and if one should abstain from masturbation completely. Now I understand that it depends on yourself. MO is only “bad” depending on what you’re after and what you think about MO. For example, I never felt bad from MO so in that sense MO is not bad for me. But as I state above, nofap made me have more thoughts of meeting other people which could be affected negatively from MO. So maybe I will take on nofap temporarily again if I feel that I need a little boost when I want to find more people to hang out with or to find a partner.
In the end I know this post probably won’t bring much new to the table but I wanted to share my experience nonetheless. Hope this has been somewhat interesting or helpful to someone. My only tips for those who are doing nofap is the same as in many other post: keep your days busy!
LINK – Decided to try nofap, set 30 days as minimum, made it 48 days
by Zygorr
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