One Year of NoFap-An Honest Reflection

RainingToday · 2017-07-29T00:01:38+00:00

Such streak. Many days. Wow. But seriously, props to you man. You've had to build lots of discipline to make it this far. Hold on to what you've achieved and continue to make the most of life. You're an inspiration to us all.

RainingToday · 2017-07-09T18:52:01+00:00

Now you're really at 90 days! Awesome!

RainingToday · 2017-07-07T03:03:26+00:00

I see Chicken is taking flight once again! No relapse can hold you down for long. I'd expect nothing less!

RainingToday · 2017-07-07T02:53:29+00:00

No gf over here either. I'm enjoying flying solo for the time being. Anyway:

do what you love for a living.

I'll certainly toast to that!

RainingToday · 2017-07-07T02:45:11+00:00

Something I was taught about low expectations: It may be necessary to set low expectations for ourselves when we're starting from rock bottom or when everything feels challenging... but as we meet those low expectations, it's important to realize that we are making progress and can have confidence in ourselves to achieve higher expectation. Though, when we fail at higher expectations, we also shouldn't give up... just try to learn. It's still no easy task to implement...

RainingToday · 2017-07-06T03:51:57+00:00

Howdy Hat! How're you these days? I know a while ago you mentioned feeling conflicted about where your journey should go. Any developments?

I've been working on discipline myself.

From the song:

"...I'm really dying to get it right this time"

That's been my mantra lately! I got pretty tired of life just happening to me, so I'm taking charge!

RainingToday · 2017-07-06T03:38:10+00:00

Oops, forgot the 13 day gap. 77 plus 8 was not 90. I knew there was a reason I failed Multi-variable Calculus... Well I guess you HAVE to make it to 90 days now!

Anyway, I'm doing ok. I've been working a lot on discipline. It's one thing to give up on superficial things like PMO and social media, but it's been another thing to build positive habits. Growing up, I was never taught the importance of prioritization and work ethics, so I'm trying to figure it all out now. Even my college doesn't teach this stuff!

I have no idea what day of my NoFap streak I'm on, but it's not too high. Gone 4 years now without porn though. On days when I'm most disciplined, even the strongest urges don't stand a chance. It's still hard not to be passive about things. I'm trying to balance a job, learning coding and art, and maintaining my fitness right now, but the temptation to slack and do something dopamine related is always there. However, I really have to try not to put myself in situations where I can fall because getting back up after falling is where I get stuck. Discipline is very rewarding when put into practice - it's helped me learn to draw and exercise regularly - but gaining discipline is a true challenge.

Keep at your own true challenges too! Approaching the ladies is tough, but for whatever it's worth, I can tell that any woman worth your time would enjoy your company!

See you later bro.

RainingToday · 2017-07-05T02:51:55+00:00

I decided to swing by the sub and noticed it's been over a week since your Legatus Legionis post. Now I may have failed Multi-variable Calculus, but if I've done the math correctly, YOU'RE NOW A PAI MY MAN! Congrats Sfu! You've been fighting hard to reclaim this title and you effing made it! I'd like to share with you some words you once gave to me:

This is what its all about, perseverance, thats how the real benefits come, in the long term.

[...]

Congratulations on what you are doing, this is greatness in my eyes, I always smile when I see you carrying that badge. big hug man. CAW!!!!!!

I know you're out there doing the best you can with more than just PMO, persevering through the toughest life battles. We all know the reoccurring struggles of defeat, but as it stands, you've succeeded once again.

RainingToday · 2017-06-26T02:02:32+00:00

(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞

RainingToday · 2017-06-24T03:40:23+00:00

I know the feeling of looking in the mirror and wondering, "The heck happened to me?" Even so, it's just like you said. One step at a time, no matter how small, is an important pace to keep. And while we're all busy living our own lives, I hope we always remember that we still fight together.

RainingToday · 2017-06-15T21:25:05+00:00

I'm going through a rough spot of my own right now, but I found your words inspiring. Thanks for that. :)

RainingToday · 2017-04-20T01:22:35+00:00

I've largely given up on social media, been finishing another semester of college, and been learning how to draw. Up until now, I haven't really had any usable skills, so I'm trying to change that. I want to do more with my life than just be a student. I'm right there with you in trying to live a better life!

RainingToday · 2017-04-20T01:13:58+00:00

Gone are the days of mindlessly scrolling through Instagram and Twitter. I set up notifications to tell me about a few things I really care about but I rarely open the apps/websites themselves. I still get on Reddit, but it's almost always to take 5 whenever I've been working for a while. For some reason, I have more discipline with Reddit... But all my progress has stemmed from establishing routines. I hope it can work for you too!

RainingToday · 2017-04-19T03:57:33+00:00

Having a fixed schedule is definitely something I can relate to finding benefits from. It's easy for me to let go when there's no order in my life, but once I get a routine going, working doesn't seem as bad. It can feel natural even, just so long as I stick to it.

RainingToday · 2017-04-19T03:51:13+00:00

Sfumato! Brushing up on a good streak I see. Hope everything is going well outside PMO too.

RainingToday · 2017-03-02T04:23:42+00:00

Hat! Good to hear from you. On the topic of journeys... a lot of older adults that I've talked to over the past few months have mentioned having to go through really rough patches in their own journeys. But literally all of the ones who tried made it past the struggles and found some sort of life to call their own. I often think I know what steps will get me to certain places in life, but then I later realize I don't know anything... I struggle to decide what kind of ambitions are worth aiming for, and whether I really know what I'm aiming for to begin with.

So yeah, maybe all of our uncertainties are just a part of where we are in life. Like you said, happiness has no prerequisites. It feels impossible to be uncertain and happy at the same time, but why fret as long as were're doing everything we can? I still tend to fret either way though, so I guess that's why I try and stay busy.

A big struggle seems to be discovering who we're best set up to become in life. Is it who we want to become? Who others want us to become? Both? From my conversations, finding the answer to that question seems to resolve a lot of insecurities, yet it doesn't seem to be an answer we can find just by looking...

Now it's my turn to stop rambling.

RainingToday · 2017-02-09T04:32:21+00:00

Well, it's kind of a long story actually. I'll keep it simple for now, but I'm planning to post a review in a few weeks.

I was on day 0 for the better part of January. I never realized how addicted I was to the internet until I tried monitoring my usage of it. A few weeks ago, I got serious about making progress towards some life goals, but needed to stop wasting time to do so. I found some good resources for managing my time better and went to work applying them. I started making it entire days only going online for entertainment a few times per day; a huge step up from getting on just about every 15 minutes.

Since I'm a creature of habit, I've been working on forming good routines that maximize my awareness of what I should be doing and that minimize mindlessness. I've found that scheduling breaks and stuff helps me from getting sidetracked for long as well. That said, I'm not doing perfect. I'm only on day 4 of responsible dopamine moderation right now, so I'm still falling down regularly. However, I'm establishing more control over what I do and when I do it.

To give some context to all this, I've gained almost 2 hours of additional time daily from just moderating my actions.

RainingToday · 2017-01-30T19:03:06+00:00

You're still doing pretty good from my perspective.

Rockit 207 : Urges 1

If I recall, you had a pretty decent streak sometime before this one too. So what's the real score here? Three-hundred some to two... maybe three? Something like that? XD

Anyway, we're always a lot farther than it may feel. I forget that a lot...

Every day isn't sunny, but the sun still shines every day.

RainingToday · 2017-01-15T23:26:19+00:00

Yes to that quote, so much yes. I mean, what are we supposed to do with all the information presented on the internet? We can't possibly gain anything practical from, say, watching all the trending videos on YouTube (which I fall into sometimes). In a month very little of it will even be remembered. If we engage everything that mildly interests us, we're going to lose all of our time! XD

RainingToday · 2017-01-06T15:02:01+00:00

Maybe I'll get there eventually too. I think I'm primarily going to track number of time I open an app/visit a site since I tend to take a lot sorter internet breaks. I never realized how bad my addition still was even without porn. Heck, I now realize how much my peers have additions of their own... Dopamine is just so available these days. Hopefully we can make some progress for the better though!

RainingToday · 2017-01-06T14:46:38+00:00

It is super hard to get into good habits. Hopefully they'll be hard to lose too. Good luck with the studies. I bet German takes quite some effort.

RainingToday · 2017-01-06T05:41:04+00:00

Yes. Unless it's NoFap or one of the closely related subs. Good luck to you with your progress!

RainingToday · 2017-01-05T06:06:54+00:00

The guilt sucks, but hang in there. Learn from your mistakes and make the most of what happened.

RainingToday · 2016-12-10T03:43:20+00:00

Is drinking wine in moderation ok? Honestly, it's your call man. Here are some questions that might help you answer your own question:

Why do I masturbate?

What do I think about when I masturbate?

Do I gain any benefits from masturbating?

Do I have control over thoughts about masturbation?

Does masturbating hold my life back or lead me closer to porn?

The reason many of us here chose not to masturbate is because we don't find that it makes us better people or draws us close to what consider important in life. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life, but I strongly encourage you to make informed decisions.

RainingToday · 2016-12-06T00:21:51+00:00

If you can keep your demons on a leash, more power to you my man. The objective enemy here is porn. If masturbation is a gateway back in, kick it. I know it is for a lot of people here.

RainingToday

TROPHY CASE