The good news-- I'm at day 10 of my first ever attempts at abstaining from PMO! The troubling news-- for past few nights I've been having increasingly vivid dreams and they almost always start as nightmares. Eventually, these turn to lucid dreams out of necessity since each nightmare wakes me up each hour during the night. When something unfavorable goes down in a dream, I find myself yelling "NO!" and now all of a sudden I have control of my dream, and it usually turns into something overtly sexual. I'm not sure if it's entirely my subconscious here or if I'm consciously making the images pop up and then acting on them. Usually there will be people I know that pop in my dreams, fulfilling an unfulfilled fantasy of mine. But other times it gets much more raunchy, similar to things I've seen while watching P. However, despite acting out in my dreams I am still mentally suppressing myself from achieving O since I will wake up frightened and confused without having had a wet dream. I'm troubled since my dreams are so vivid and these are actively the types of thoughts I've been trying to avoid. Basically, I need advice! Should I allow myself to release in my dreams? Should I let go and let my body release the excess fluids and hormones that have been building up? I know I can't control what happens in my subconscious, but I feel like I am still restraining myself and as a result I wake up suddenly every hour of the night. I also feel like this may go against everything I am trying to do here at NoFap. I'm at my first crossroads since the start of this 9 days ago and I could really use some help. For anyone who has experience with this, I welcome your suggestions. Thank you!
Mitsurugi, I've recently started having various types of erotic and disturbing dreams as well. Just last night, for example. And we are both at nearly the same duration of our NoFap period. My guess is we are both seeing signs of healing. This appears to be a very good thing. My own thoughts are that it is somewhat fruitless to try to control your dreams. I'd be most impressed that you could consciously influence a wet dream's occurrence. I don't believe you should worry and let your body's NATURAL processes take over. However, I am new at this like you are so I am NOT an expert.
I'm glad you mentioned that this may be a sign of healing. In fact I feel the inner workings of something happening inside my head when I wake up and manage to stave off my morning urges (those always seem to be the strongest for me). It's my hope that this is my brain rewiring my reward pathways when I don't immediately act on the fact that I have an erection, even if I feel the horniest that I've ever been in recent memory. Lol. And also I've always had a keen ability to lucid dream, and have experienced multiple episodes of sleep paralysis. Two full blown episodes in the past month in fact. So I wonder if my ability to remain a bit more conscious in my dreams is related to that. Thus me feeling like I need to let it happen.
Wet dreams a man usually has in the age of 14-18, not in the age of 29. You may have 100 days of NO-PMO and there still will be no wet dream. Your body knows best how to react with the new circumstances. Relax and enjoy the journey.
Thanks for the words of advice, I suppose I'll just let the dreams happen as they will and try not to panic. But after an incredibly erotic dream last night I woke up suddenly and was thoroughly aroused. I guess the main issue for me is the onset of this sort of insomnia for the past 3 nights, where I have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. This extends to me waking at every hour from nightmares, which randomly turn to vivid sexual dreams. Interestingly enough this started happening when I stopped meditating a few nights ago before bedtime. I'll definitely take the relaxation aspect more in mind when I'm headed to bed and get back to meditating at night regularly. Perhaps it will ease my mind a bit more during these dreams.
It sounds like you have matters in good control. We all have questions and doubts. But it will be our actions that matter most. And you appear to be both responsible and in command of your actions. Good on you! And "Ganbare!" (I think that's Japanese for Good luck.) For me, my dreams are like getting to watch a movie and not having to pay for it. I may or may not enjoy the dream, just like a movie, but at least it cost me nothing. I try to think of them as insights.....I rarely get them from a dream, but I try anyways.
