Jan 20, 2019. I finally realized this was not just a naughty habit. I don't think I would still be in the fight if it were not for nofap.
Technically, I first tried to quit 12 years ago. But I didn't fight the whole time, there were many years I didn't even try. I would estimate the cumulated fighting time to around 3 years.
Its hard to say because a part of me has known its been a problem for a long time, while another part of me has tried to keep that knowledge suppressed. I've known it was a problem consciously since about 2009 when I was with my first serious girlfriend and I couldn't orgasm without thinking about it. I told her but did not take action past that. I've spent the intervening years in a back and forth with whether or not it was really a problem. Finally decided to take action on it several months back - I finally picked up the phone and called a counselor. I had searched for counselors many times but never called. Then I did. Its hard to believe how long its been a part of my life and has affected my sexuality and ability to connect with women sexually. Like any addict, I had every excuse in the book for why it wasn't the problem. Now I'm married and not very interested in my wife sexually and I knew it had to be addressed.
I always tried to stop that habit but got more informed on porn as an addiction 7 years ago. It hurts to see that I’m still not done with that.
I have been trying to quit PMO for 7 years. At first it was out of curiosity, then when I first-hand experienced the benefits (to a certain extend as it was only 30 days with a clean record) I totally bought the idea porn is harmful. I have been trying to cleanse myself of this evil ever since.
Been using pmo for 15-20 years the symptoms were a slow process so I just never knew what my problem was, I always thought I was born this way with a brain disorder. Always heard porn and masterbation was a normal thing to do so I did it often not knowing I was doing a ton of damage. Doctors had me on adhd medications and antidepressants luckily I never took them long the 3 times after I started taking them because they didn’t do what I was looking for.
17 years of near daily PMO binges 8 years of compulsive (P)MO before high speed internet era -------------------------------------------------------------------- SUM = 25 years of wasted social life
1.5 years, since summer '18. Just hit rock bottom too. But I'm never going to give up. The man who gets knocked down over and over again but keeps getting back up is more admirable than the man who succeeds first try in my opinion.
I started this my first streak when I found forum.nofap.com. Previously I didn't really know about PMO damage —I wish I did.
My story is similar, I first heard about NoFap in 2015 and didn't think much of it. But by mid 2017, I realized I was in bad shape and it could have been because of my PMO addiction. So, from about October/November of 2017, I kept going on a streak, sometimes like 10+ days, then failing. I think that my video game addiction was a trigger for PMO. I'd edge and lie to myself about what was considered "PMO"...horrible idea, that happened throughout much of 2018. Relapsing and trying again, no fun at all. I even went to go see a psychologist and was diagnosed with depression! Ha! What a load of you-know-what, I say, as I haven't been "depressed" since I got to ~90 days of NoFap! I don't even take those pills they prescribed for my "depression" (as if they'd do anything, lol). You must try NoFap!!! Removing video games has been difficult lately, although I recommend killing all of your bad habits once you recognize that they're bad habits! I do wish that I had started NoFap when I first heard of it, whenever it was back in 2015. I think I made probably like 8 streaks where I noticed some small benefits. Both of those and the desire to truly improve myself in every area are what motivated me to stay on NoFap and not quit NoFap (because you only fail NoFap if you quit!). This is my longest streak ever, I have to thank God first and this fellow on YouTube "BecomingAlpha" for helping me to gain enough willpower to get this far. Check out BecomingAlpha right here, he has absolutely the best YouTube channel if you are seeking to succeed at NoFap (no matter what day you are currently on): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_sS2e2ORXDnkoDr36GphOg P.S.: Yes, edging = relapse.
Been on NoFap for over a year now, been watching porn since I was 12, first saw it when I was like 7 or 8.
I've been trying to quit for about 4 years. In that time I've decreased my consumption drastically, I'm still fighting and still making mistakes. But I'm determined to be a healthy individual now.
You didn't elaborate much, but I suspect your games have a lot of sexual contents. If that's the case, then I propose switching them all for Worms Armageddon - a game that's SFW & SFL, not time-consuming & fun as hell. If you want to try multi, I'm always open
It's difficult to explain, but I think that the reason why video games are triggering to me (and thus bad for me) is because they release a lot of dopamine. I used to play games that had filth in them before I got serious about NoFap, so maybe it's some kind of association between video games leading to PMO. You can play video games all you want, but for me, those days are done. At this point in time, I feel bad when I play games because I constantly think "Why am I here? I could be doing something so much more productive, something much better". Everyone's brain works differently, so my destructive habits won't be the same as others'.