Reddit user, Brohit, made a name for himself by starting the group "NoFap," a group of ever increasing men and women dedicated to abstaining from masturbation. The ability to control your sexual urges, say most of the members, gives you mental focus and confidence that seems to vaporize when stuck in the muck of porn.
Brohit, himself, has gone 700 days without masturbating and his message to the world is one of sincere gratitude. He feels as though he has gained immense control of his reality, going so far as to referring to it as gaining superpowers.
His message, that got insane views on Reddit, is as follows:
"I started NoFap almost 2.5 years ago. After constantly relapsing for 4 months, I gathered the will to go full cold turkey. I can't tell you what exactly I did it and why it worked. That’s up to you to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. And also there are way too many wonderful posts here that give some great tips and tricks on how to deal with urges. My post won’t come anywhere close to that. Instead I’m going to talk about what exactly I learned about human personality and will power over the course of last year.
We are all born with an empty void inside of ourselves. All our life we try to fill this void with something or the other. It can be anything - religion, spirituality, women, academics, work, porn, tinder, sex, mobile phone, TV, movies, and so on. How we fill this void makes us who we are. But this makes me wonder how can all these man-made, artificial things compose our personalities?
Once I quit fapping, my mind did feel a lot clear and I was at peace more often. Yes I was able to feel all those things you call ‘superpowers’ too - sudden increase in confidence, laser sharp focus, more attention from women, easier to find sex, energy boosts, etc. However, I don’t like to refer to them as ‘superpowers’ - how do we know these superpowers aren’t just normal human tendencies?
Maybe the constant glorification of sex and fine-ass honeys that we are exposed to daily has fogged our general perspective - now we can only think about sex and what it would be like to sleep with women that have ‘perfect’ bodies. But once we start controlling our sex urges, our mind realizes that there’s more to life and this world than just sex and hot women. If we can learn proper self-control, we can master anything.
But I’m a hypocrite. I don’t practice what I preach. Ever since I started NoFap, I’ve realized that I have way too many other addictions and obsessions. These addictions aren’t anything severe or serious. But the more I try to avoid them, the more my confidence is shaken apart. I check my phone every few minutes to see if that cute girl I texted has replied to my texts/ snaps. I go on tinder so frequently to see if I can find my one true soulmate (or maybe just get laid soon). Having meaningless sex with a new girl every time. How’s any of this different from masturbating? And if none of these things go according to how I want them to, my self-esteem and general level of happiness takes a serious blow.
You guys might say that these are healthy addictions. But I don’t want to agree to that. They’re all meaningless attachments. I want to get rid of them because they bring nothing but misery to me in the long-run. They are nothing but mere blockages in my way to find my source of inherent confidence and true purpose. Recently I’ve started pulling these out of my life one-by-one. I feel much more at peace. But I know that it takes one shitty day to get back to where I was before. At least now I can take comfort in the fact that if I can control my urge to jerk off then I have developed a strong enough will power to beat an addiction that people blindly don’t even consider an addiction.
Enough about my story, now I have a message for all you guys trying to fight this. Always remember that NoFap is only a very small part of the battle. Once you win this you will find there’s a lot more left to conquer. It will never get easy, although I agree first few weeks are fucking hard (literally :P). But trust me, you will get stronger every day. I still face the same urges I did 700 days ago, but I like to think that I’m much stronger now.
Please let’s not make NoFap a cult. Let’s focus on smaller battles within us that stop us from being happy and satisfied. Happiness and satisfaction comes from within. Just let that void be. Don’t try to fill it with anything. That void within ourselves is what makes us human.
Have faith you guys. Faith in yourself. Stay strong!
TL; DR - You are awesome. You are a lot more amazing than most of the people out there. You’ve already admitted that you have a problem living your life like a ’normal’ person. First step to recovery is admittance. So now please scroll up and read my post :)
EDIT - UHMYGODD! This unexpectedly blew up. Thank you all of you for such overwhelming support. I would never post here before, thinking that my posts won't get much love or attention. But you guys certainly know how to inspire a brother! I will try to reply to each of your comments <3"
His post received massive attention, with people agreeing across the board.
Many people don't think of masturbation as an addiction, though it really can drain you if overdone. According to NoFap's Twitter campaign, "Quitting porn and compulsive sexual habits is one of the most sex-positive decisions that a person can make."
Brohit's experience with increased confidence, laser sharp focus, more attention from women and easier to find sex is just one example.