Hey guys. Im on day 7 of NoFap. And so far its going great. Ive been working out a lot to distract myself and picked up a few hobbies. Today was going good. I woke not having any urges at all. Barely any withdrawl symptoms. But during the day i had a sexual thought enter (which i was trying to aviod) when i felt a rush of dopamine enter my brain. After i felt how i did in the beggining of my journey with nofap. I even felt a few withdrawl symptoms. Does this count as a relapse. Do i start from sqaure 1. I read online that a full relapsee (pmo) doesnt necessarily ruin your entire progress especially when youve been pmo free for longer days like say 100+. Does anyone know?
I'm not an expert by any means but I don't think a thought during the day counts. You didn't expand on it and act out. Keep moving forward and don't give up.
yes it is a kind of relapse. But the troubles only start if you ejaculate. However being horny will lead to conscious or unconscious relapse.
There’s a difference between experiencing a sexual thought or feeling aroused and fantasizing. The latter is the technical relapse, the former is not. You’re bound to epxperience horniness and urges during your reboot; they’re just a part of the recovery process. It’s when you begin fantasizing and focusing on these thoughts rather than dismissing them that you are truly relapsing. Keep this in mind and you’ll be fine.
Thank. But my experience sounds like the second one u mentioned since i felt the dopamine rush in my brain.
Did you dwell on the thought, i.e. fantasize about it? Or did you just feel arousal and feel the rush of dopamine as you became aroused?
Frankly I don’t think it counts as a relapse because you didn’t instigate it yourself. If you didn’t dwell on it then don’t worry. You can’t always control or prevent provoking thoughts like that from entering your mind, that’s all part of recovery. As long as you dismiss these thoughts without fantasizing then don’t worry about resetting your counter.