I made it to 70 days, and then relapsed. Here is what I learned.

I was going to wait 20 more days so that I could make a 90-day sobriety success story, but I relapsed last night at day 70. So, I am going to explain what I experienced and learned over this streak and some highlights from some previous ones.

First of all, 70 days is the furthest I've ever gone by a long shot compared to my previous record. My previous record was 34 days. Keep in mind, getting to 70 days was not easy. It took many, many failed streaks. Some longer than others. I am glad it took me over a year and a half to get this much sobriety because I learned a lot about myself in the process.

What did I learn? First of all, I quickly learned that nofap is not just abstaining from relapsing. It is a lifestyle change. I was very surprised at just how much I didn't know about myself after I passed 30 days of sobriety. The 2nd month of sobriety was a time where my self-awareness increased a lot. A lot of my problems stared me in the face, and I decided that I needed to address my issues with managing stress and anxiety, and that was a big learning experience.

The other thing I learned is that recovery is much different than one would expect, depending on who you are. For one, I didn't experience any obvious benefits. My parents did say that I had more confidence and I was more social, but that is the only other benefit other than self-awareness.

That's all I've got for now. The biggest takeaway that I got from this is that being consistent in doing all the right things in your life is key to staying sober in recovery. The reason I relapsed is because I was losing sleep, I wasn't exercising, I was sleeping in, and I wasn't eating as well. All of this was a recipe for relapse.

For the one person who keeps wanting to give up, don't. It is worth it to keep fighting.