Hello there, new to the platform

Hello to anyone reading this. Thanks in advance for taking the time to do so.

I've visited the NoFap website a couple of times already, but never signed up. Today, after abstaining from PMO for 6 days (starting from the 29th of May), I deemed it wiser to sign up for the community and tell my story.

I don't remember what age I was when I saw inappropriate content for the first time, but I think around the time I was 12 or so. Ever since then I've gotten hooked to PMO/PM. At the time, of course, not realising what it was doing to my brain.

When I was about 16ish I started to realise it wasn't a particular good habit, I felt ashamed for doing it. But the urges were strong and I justified it by telling myself MO was natural, ignoring the fact I basically always watched and needed P in order to do so.

When I was 16 I finished my college education. During this period I tried flirting with girls, but that never paid of, usually resulted in ackward situations. Since I was always PMOing, the desire to improve those skills at that time, was basically 0.

I started working whilst studying electrical engineering. Basically I've been combining studying and working for 9 years, almost getting my Bachelors degree, but due to other, mostly work related reasons, I had to and wanted to quit the bachelors degree course in September of 2022.

Working and studying didn't really affect my PMO habit, but after I ended my studying phase and only remained working, I had way more free time as one can imagine. It was then that it started to get to me that I was still single and that I've always been single. After accepting that this is the case, I started making changes and setting goals. One of those changes/goals is to get P out of my life. So far I've had it "under control", by this I mean I've limited to amount of PMO. But, after reading up on the NoFap info page, had to admit I experienced the chaser effect numerous times. A lot of the information was relatable.

To my understanding of P addiction so far, I believe I'm not a severe addict, since quitting P itself wasn't and isn't difficult for me. But not MOing is. And like it says on the information page, when the chaser effect hits, I am back in my PMO habit before I realise it, but no more.

I'm going to create a journal thread as well, were I'll tell more about my other goals/changes I'm setting/making to become a better person.

Again, thanks for reading and have a wonderful day