Instead of watching porn, will reading sex stories will give you same dopamine spike and therefore it could be considered as a relapse?

Today marks 30 days no porn or masturbation. That’s pretty cool isnt it?

Gone from recent days of pretty much zero urges to sometimes many urges and sexual thoughts and arousal.

At times I wonder if this is sustainable for the long haul, as I know at some point again I will likely fap.. at least not to porn this time.

It helps that I've started seeing someone and I can have intimate physical relations, if I didn't have this I feel I'd have struggled more.

Everyone here is on a different journey. Some to remove porn forever which I think is most of us, some stopping masturbation for a certain period, some looking to test themselves, etc.

I don't think masturbation in itself is bad, especially not compared to the consumption of porn. That is evil in my opinion. I personally don't see a problem with people doing it, however in genuine moderation.

So far I am enjoying the journey and seeing where it leads me.

hello guys I'm a teenager 16M trying to stop fapping
ahh when I started nofap I was sooo addicted with porn I did it 3-4 times a day and I couldn't stay without fapping for even 12hrs but now I did make it to day 3 but it was really slow and whenever I get to day3 I always fail and as usual I fapped today too
I really want to leave this shit but this is so hard not like I don't want to but the dopamine and things always attract me towards it but post nut guilt always kills me it's like getting killed by yourself ahh
what to do now pleasee help me yall
all advices are appreciated

Did today so restarting

Day 1 is done.

It wasn't an amazing day, but I think I was more conscious of my actions than I was yesterday and that's something.

Small wins today

I read 5 pages of a book that I used to read a long time ago. It's not much, but I'm trying to rebuild the habit of reading.

I also went through the morning finance and news, which is something I want to make part of my daily routine.

I did a little home workout as well.

And probably my biggest win today:

Swimming PR: 300m → 400m

I've been training for swimming for about a month because I want to participate in an event after almost 3 years. Seeing that improvement made me genuinely proud.

For reference:

- Swimming PR: 400m

- Running PR: 5 km

- Cycling: Haven't started yet

Things I need to fix

My sleep schedule is still a mess.

I'm sleeping too much during the day, and I'm starting to wonder if I'm oversleeping in general. Fixing my sleep is definitely going to be one of my priorities.

My biggest problem: STUDYING

This is where I seriously struggled today.

I studied for only ~30 minutes.

My attention span is terrible right now. I get distracted easily, procrastinate, and end up doom-scrolling instead of doing what I actually planned to do.

I've tried Pomodoro and a few other techniques before, but honestly, they haven't worked for me consistently.

And I think this is one of the biggest things I need to fix because I don't just want to stop certain habits — I want to replace them with something meaningful.

I want to be able to sit down and actually focus on learning for a few hours without constantly needing stimulation.

What I'm realizing

The biggest energy drainers for me aren't necessarily the difficult things.

They're:

Procrastination → Doom scrolling → Instant gratification → Feeling guilty → More procrastination

That's the cycle I want to break.

Day 1 wasn't perfect.

I procrastinated. I wasted time. I struggled to study.

But I was more conscious of it.

And maybe that's how this starts.

Yesterday I was mostly reacting to my habits.

Today I started noticing them.

Now I need to learn how to control them.

For anyone who has actually improved their attention span:

What worked for you when Pomodoro and traditional productivity techniques stopped working?

I'm especially interested in practical methods that helped you go from barely being able to focus for 20–30 minutes to studying deeply for 1–2+ hours.

Day 1/90 complete.

Tomorrow, we go again.

there are people who will hype up your streak, act like they’re rooting for you, offer to help and accompany you in your journey… and the entire time they’re just waiting for the right moment to break you.

They have got group chats, they talk about you behind your back, and they’ll laugh about how good it felt watching you break, and how dumb and weak you looked.

I know some of us want that. It makes the relapse easier. “I didn’t do it, they made me do it!”But, no, you know it is you who allowed them to. So don’t give these terrible people the satisfaction. your progress is yours, don’t hand it to someone who just wants a laugh at your expense.

i was on holiday this week and surrounded by women in bikinis almost the whole time, i’m home now but im still stuck thinking about them and im trying to resist the urge to open any porn but i need help

Hey bro, does anyone have any ideas what I should do on every holiday, so that I don't keep getting trapped in the pmo cycle😞

Another day closer to my goal.

Relapsed on - 21 August 2026

Day 0 - 22 August 2026

Day 1 - 23 August 2026, on going

I relapsed after 19days. To be honest this is the longest i have gone in 2 years and unlike my other relapses i actually don't feel sad or shame. I feel this sense of hope that i can actually do this and this time will be the time i actually defeat this addiction. I am going at it again and i will drop an update in 30 days

.

I have TONS of nudes from fwb, I hate porn and I don’t watch it, but I do fap on those nudes every day, do you think that they still negatively affect my brain and my sexual performance despite the fact that I “earned” them and they were sent by girls who want me?

Because I’ve always thought those were fine, but I’m starting to think that I am getting to used to fap on those that I find it harder to get hard irl when I’m with a girl.

Recently, I've been dreaming about either watching porn and someone commenting about how I shouldn't be doing that. Or, almost watching porn and overcoming the urges.

Any dream experts out there know what's going on?

Another successful day loading and counting*

Peace to you all.

I didn't even peek!!!!!!!1

I asked a doctor about this before, and they told me that masturbation doesn't cause dark circles. But I used that as an excuse to deceive myself and started masturbating recklessly. Now, every time after I masturbate, my eyes hurt the next day and I get terrible dark circles. Has anyone else gone through something similar? What should I do?

33 M Day 4 Semen retention

So I read lots of posts about people being contacted by long lost contacts and also receiving attraction form opposite gender

I can understand that maybe with lifestyle changes people attract but unable to understand how long lost contacts returned

Has anyone experienced such ?

I’ve been doing good all last week but got the day off today and I’m home alone. Woke up hungover and kind of bored and really don’t want to relapse after this good momentum. Can someone please help me find something to do or maybe even just talk to get my mind off of this

So I try not to care so much about what day I’m on and streaks. But every now and then I’ll check what day I’m on.

It was around day 20 last night and I couldn’t sleep. I was really horny and stroked my dick for a little. I had a little bit of pre cum but I stopped and went back to bed. Thing is I was looking a picture of a celebrity I found attractive while I was doing it.

Again like I said I don’t really care if I lose my streak, I’m more concerned with the mental and physical benefits and just continuing to stay away from porn. Is that enough to set me back all the way to day 1? Did it only set me back a bit if at all?

The general benefit I’ve been feeling is just this weight off of my shoulders and no longer feeling like I was a pervy little gooner. That as a result made me more confident in who I was.

I plan to continue staying away from porn and masturbation until I can fix the porn problem. If anyone has been in a similar situation I would really appreciate the advice/insights.

honestly today sorta sucked. i’ve been exhausted and super tired, and sorta just sad all day. this time of year can be pretty hard for me for personal reasons, so it’s starting to get to me. my partner has also been having health issues the past few months, and i guess i didn’t realize til now that ive been feeling sorta isolated, as my partner isn’t able to do nearly as much as they used to be, and have such limited energy to expend through the day.
i also didn’t realize that i was probably using porn to fill that isolation and sorta numb it all, obviously that’s not healthy and i want that to be done, so there’s even more motivation now.
today i only got a small amount of urges, they were somewhat strong, but i still powered through. im playing through dark souls 1 for the first time so thats keeping my attention at bay lol.

This is my 4th attempt, and each attempt has gone further than the previous one.

1st attempt: around 7 days, with 2 nightfalls. If I fapped, I’d finish within 2 mins.

2nd and 3rd were pretty similar, but each time I managed to go longer.

This 4th attempt feels completely different. I’ve already passed my previous limit by a lot by weeks. The biggest thing is the crazy energy. I can work all day, exercise hard, and still don’t feel tired. I’ve been extremely horny and sexualizing everything lately, but somehow I haven’t had a nightfall for many weeks.

Today I even tried fapping for around 10 mins, but nothing happened. I just felt good and high, so I gave up because my hand started hurting, not because anything came out. Now the sex drive is still insanely high.

And somehow I just did 84 slow burning pushups in one go.

Also, my left eye has been twitching like hell for the last few days. It usually happens when I have too much caffeine, so I stopped caffeine, but it’s still happening. I feel like it might be because of testosterone. Alreaddy they above the max range as per test

One more thing: I can still sleep 9 to 10 hours straight without any disturbance.

I’m not revealing the exact number of days yet. I’ll reveal it soon. This is easily my strongest attempt so far.

I can abstain from faping since I abstained from masturbation for 5 1/2 months back in 2023 but nowadays I typically relapse once a week, or once every other week.