One year ago today I started NoFap, a movement where participants choose to abstain from porn and/or pornography (in my case both). Soon after beginning, I experienced many positive changes in my life. The biggest changes I noticed were an increase in energy, a desire to more social, and being more motivated to interact with girls.

 

 

 

 

 

           While I still support most of the NoFap community’s ideals, recent events and experiences one year later have led me to rethink some of the assumptions I had made about NoFap.

 

           For those immersed in the viewing of pornography or engaged in compulsive masturbation, NoFap can work wonders in lifting the veil off of the illusionary world that these behaviors can create. Even for people such as myself, who didn’t start watching porn (more than just SI Swimsuit models, lol) until my senior year of high school and only viewed it 1-2 times per week, NoFap can have a tremendous effect.  After experiencing many of the benefits well documented on the Internet I and enjoying my life much more as a result, I slowly became obsessed with the fear of what I would be without the “superpowers” that I believed NoFap had given me. As a result I went (and still do, kinda) to great lengths to preserve my streaks, believing that a “relapse” might shatter the man I had become.  Reading many of the posts on Reddit and similar sites online I have noticed a similar thought process and mindset. People are scared of what they might be without being on a NoFap streak, and until recently, my mindset was very similar.

 

            Starting this semester of college I recommitted myself to NoFap (more discipline, etc). However, I have run into some problems that I believe are worth sharing and that I believe can help change the mindset of the at least some of the community (i.e. that a “relapse” is the end of the world). Simply put, NoFap started failing me. Specifically, I was constantly tense, anxious, overly serious, frustrated, and had difficulty sleeping. I had experienced these feelings before but was unwilling to stop NoFap in order to explore what would happen out of fear that I wouldn’t be the same.

 

            Well, I finally got the courage (and common sense some might say) to try and I’m glad I did. Since returning to more normal masturbation habits (still no porn) I re-experienced many of the things I did when I first started NoFap, such as a resurgence in energy, desire to engage socially, and improved sleep. Whereas before I was almost childishly standoffish and tense, masturbation has allowed the flow to return to my life. Taking this risk was difficult for me given what I believed and still mostly believe about what NoFap can do for you, but given the positive results so far, I hope to tweak my mindset about pursuing a NoFap lifestyle long term.

 

            So while I still believe that porn can have a pretty serious detrimental effect on someone's life, I am now less convinced that moderate or even normal (whenever you want to) masturbation isn’t very healthy, allowing you to re-experience many of the benefits you first felt when embarking on your NoFap journey, benefits I might add, that are indicative of a healthy human being.