If you're talking about nofap, yes people quit trying to not masturbate If you're talking about fapping, yes people quit. I'm sure that i won't relapse because it's something I got psicologically out since the first day of this streak. So keep going on and keep moving on
I think it probably always requires vigilance, even after quitting. It's important not to slip into old habits that can lean to PMO.
The guys who have posted so far are on impressive streaks (@Davinblake's counter says 313 Days and @Indurian's 176) and I'm on 1,047 days without porn. Will I go back to relapsing in an infinite loop as you put it? No, I don't think so. More than that I am going to keep working hard to make sure I do not. Look, I know how hard it is to stop, especially in the early part of our sobriety, but if you make sure that you learn something from each relapse and keep implementing and reviewing techniques that work in your life you can do it. We're with you. Good luck
I think that people quit. To build a streak you must make a lot of lifestyle changes is my experience. Because of these changes I think you quit for good.
I like to think that my addiction will always remain a shadow behind me, or a hole in the ground I must watch out not to step into. In that sense, you gradually recover, but may be you will only achieve 99.9% instead of 100% recovery. However, in daily life the difference hardly matters anymore. As for me, NoFap has helped me get rid of PIED, cured my occasional dripping after urination, build a new view on sexuality and made me leave this naughty secret behind. That is already more than enough. I can't exclude I might relapse in the future, but I know that I will never go back to where I was before NoFap. I voted 'people quit' because it's definitely not an 'infinite loop'. There is a recovery, it just might not be perfect or absolute.
You all have given me hope which is exactly what I need at this moment; I’ve recently relapsed from a year recovery!
But you are back, still fighting, and you will have learnt so much from your year's sobriety, and from the relapse. You have got this.
If they didn't quit, why would this place exist? It'd make sense if you had to pay money for all the help (like many scams), but it's all free! By the way, I quit, so there's that. I have to deal with some minor urges, but that's the way you have to live after being addicted. Like an alcoholic who can't drink any longer, and is still happy. It's just irritating at times.
It’s really convincing what you wrote I guess people do quit after all these minor urges don’t count like I thought!
As long as you keep showing up to the battle, there is hope. Never give up. We are in this fight together!
That's a good question- God forgives, perhaps? Because what does it mean to "quit"? For me, truly "quitting" would mean going into the confessional some day and saying "you know what Father- this time I was just perfect". And I never expect myself or anyone to actually do that, humans don't work that way. You would just be lying! So technically I guess you could say it is an infinite loop ending only in death. Nobody really "quits". But describing it that way makes it sound very negative. As if no progress of any sort is ever made.
Everyone who is addicted needs to identify and address his underlying issue(s) if he wants to break free from any addiction. PMO is just a symptom not a cause of your problems. I thought PMO was the main problem. That everything will be OK, if I could just stop. I forgot long time ago if I ever really knew why I started compulsive MO and later binge PMOing in the fist place. Not being able to deal with clinical depression and social anxiety was and still is my underlying issue. I just self-medicated myself with PMO to oblivion. It's great tool to numb your emotions. Sure, PMO eventually kills all the joy but also numbs the pain. When you're chronically anxious and depressed you feel no happiness to begin with, so numbing your sadness and pain plus getting joy from occasional dopamine bursts from O seemed like a good deal, at least until PMO escalated to addiction. When was I able to quit PMO? When my addiction escalated to a degree that it physically couldn't get any worse (5-12 hours daily binges) and has stopped giving me the pain numbing effect I craved for (probably because of developed tolerance to D). That was the breaking point when I said to myself F... it, embrace the pain and suffering no matter how bad it gets and just stop. If I didn't do that, I'd probably off myself soon. I had by no means a perfect streak since then. I managed to do one 6-7 months long monk mode, fell into deep depression/anxiety and tried to self-medicate the pain again… I needed 4 months to realize no matter how much I PMOed, inner pain just didn't want to disappear. Numbing didn't work anymore. Luckily I came across YT video of Dr. Stephen Ilardi explaining his 6-Step Program to Beat Depression Without Drugs -> Aug 8, 2018, contacted him for advice numerus times (he was very, very helpful), read his book and started implementing his lifestyle changing program into my daily life plus begin with new 90 days monk mode reboot that has been prolonged to the present day. His program made a night and day difference. I'm still anxious and depressed, but now I have tools how to fight back when dark days come so I don't need PMO or any other drug to numb my emotions anymore.
People do quit, thats why this community is so important. Recognizing that this addiction can be beat is the first step in beating it!
I think people quit PMO but on one day, they will quit what they quit. Because it's already a lifestyle formed for long time. Once an addict, always addict you know. Staying with those who quit will makes it easier for recovery.