NoFap - The Journey - The Time Frame

I've been reading a lot of similar things lately. The best way to explain this is to use my own words, something I posted about a month ago:

I was adamant when I wrote this I'd never relapse again. That I was reborn, that I knew my triggers and how to avoid them. But in the end I just sank lower than ever.

Over the past couple of days I've seen many posts like this surface. So what I'm about to say now may be blunt, but it's also true. 9 out of 10 people who post something like this will relapse. You will relapse. This is not a judge on strength or character, but simply because of the nature of this addiction, it's an inevitability. We have no barrier, no true accountability, the negative effects usually don't prohibit having an otherwise fairly normal life. The impact is on us personally, on how we feel and act. For that reason it is the very person who wants so badly to stop who will convince you to relapse. It is inevitable. It's something we have to accept because otherwise we become hopeless.

As brilliant as the support is on this site, for me it's incredibly difficult seeing people who have succeeded, people who've completed their goals and reached the stage where they want to be. They say things like 'If I can do it anyone can.' but to me that doesn't help. I can't relate to that. I know I should be able to, because we all experience the same things, but for some reason I just can't. So when I see people with high streaks, I feel inferior, like my inconsistent streaks of anything up to a week aren't good enough, like I'm not putting enough effort in, or that I'm weak. But it's not like that. It's not our fault we have this perspective, it's natural because we live in the moment, but it's still wrong.

This leads me to one of my biggest criticisms of NoFap. For all the good the counter does, it is just that. A counter. It counts the days slowly one by one as you progress. You feel like things should be changing day by day but they don't. Most of us have suffered with this for years, yet here we are, expecting it to be cured in 14 days.

This isn't a race. This is something that will take years to fix, not weeks. Don't be put off by small streaks. The overwhelmingly important thing is that you are here. You are making a conscious choice to change this part of your life and for that you should be incredibly proud. That act in itself proves you have the strength and conviction needed to beat this. We're in it for the long run, so don't lose touch of real life. The positive changes don't come from abstaining from PMO, it simply unlocks your true self. You, and only you, are responsible for all the good things in your life, NoFap is just the catalyst.

Hope everyone's having a great day