I officially started this porn-free journey 90 days ago, after coming to the realization that I had PIED. For quite some time, I was attempting to convince myself that my porn habits were not the issue, and that instead I was suffering from performance anxiety. This fallacy, as I’m sure many of you know, was just denial.
One particular (and pretty upsetting) event really helped me come to the realization that I was avoiding a major issue. So I gave it all up, cold turkey, and haven’t looked back. Side note: I’ve adhered to the porn-free philosophy, and not NoFap. I still masturbate, albeit on a severely limited schedule. In the past, I’d go twice a day with porn. Now, I go once every 7-10 days.
I am not going to contribute to the widespread notion that giving up porn and limiting one’s masturbation habits leads to life-altering superpowers. I can say, however, that this life change has brought me great benefits. In my short 90 days of abstinence, I have achieved the following:
–The ability to have great, enjoyable, non-stressful sex for the first time in years. It should be noted that I first experienced this a mere 45 days into my abstinence. Without getting graphic, I’ll say this: certain positions, etc. that previously did nothing for me now feel amazing. I am completely cured of PIED.
–An increase in natural libido and desire for interaction with real women. Prior to my period of abstinence, I would only get aroused while looking at porn online. Now, I find myself thinking about/naturally favoring real women more than ever. I’m feeling the way I’d imagine men are supposed to feel about intimacy.
–An improvement in my speech. I’ve been a stutterer my whole life, but in the last 90 days my stutter has become very mild. I am able to interact with strangers, friends, professors (I’m a grad student), family, and coworkers with a confidence I’ve never had. Though this is mostly anecdotal and there is little empirical evidence to support it, I attribute this fluency to my dopamine levels/receptors returning to normal. Scholars focused on stuttering research have begun to notice a relationship between dopamine and stuttering. Furthermore, other stutterers in the community have noticed similar speech improvements on NoFap/porn-free. So while I don’t know the specifics of how this has affected me, there surely seems to be some sort of connection.
–A new sense of self-confidence when interacting with the opposite sex. I was never shy around women and I’ve never struggled with social anxiety. Talking to women and getting dates was never really an issue for me. Yet, there is a new sense of confidence surrounding this now. I have more motivation to go up to women I don’t know and talk to them. This is likely due to the combination of an increased libido and my speech improvements.
All of this is to say that while abstaining from porn, masturbation, or both does not result in life-altering superpowers that will solve all of one’s personal problems, it does improve things that can help one respond to such issues.
Following my small degree of success here, I’d now like to give back to the community and make myself available for questions. I feel that my journey has taught me a lot about the porn-free process, in particular th
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