Am I Back To Zero if I Relapse To Porn on NoFap / Retention?
So you just relapsed, huh?
And now you're searching the web for questions like...
- NoFap relapse am I back to zero?
- How much does one relapse on NoFap put you back?
- Am I back to zero if I relapse to porn?
Well, let's jump in and take a look at it...
Am I Back To Zero if I Relapse To Porn on NoFap / Retention?
A NoFap relapse does not have to mean that you lose something or that you “drop down” a level or two.
No, it doesn’t.
Stay with me here and I’ll tell you why in a moment.
You see, every single day I see some comments that goes something like, “I just relapsed on day 73 and I’m feeling so down right now. I’m afraid all my progress is gone”
So, guys, let’s just stop for a moment and think about this.
Let’s play around with a thought experiment here
So, if we take the guy who had a 73 day streak and we imagine that this box here is that 73 day streak. And let’s just for the sake of this example call him John.
Ok, so this is how John views the situation.
Back to zero when relapsing on NoFap?
He sees his journey as him starting on the starting line right here, trudging forward, and actually doing a really good job, starting to notice benefits, doing better and better, getting all the way here to day 73, but oh no…on that day he relapsed.
And so what’s going on in John's mind right now is that he pictures himself having to go all the way back here and start over from the starting line once again.
Guys, this is the wrong mindset.
It’s wrong even if you choose to count your days or not, which both ways are fine, by the way, but whatever way you choose to track your progress this mindset is not productive.
Because, well let’s continue our thought experiment here and you’ll see what I mean.
If you log in several 73 day long streaks...
Let’s just say for the sake of argument that we could jump one year into the future and we can now look back in time and see that John has managed to have 5 more streaks like that, all of them being 73 days long.
Which, by the way, adds up to exactly 365 days, whow, you must think I’m a mathematical genius here, right? 🙂
Ok, but, John has had 5 streaks that all ended in a relapse on day 73 and since he never changed his mindset, after each relapse he felt he was back to zero.
But here’s the deal.
Don't forget all the things you've learned during a streak...
What about all the things he has learned during a streak, not just about NoFap, but learnt about life in general and about him and his brain.
Listen up here guys, because this is important…
All those things he’s learned doesn't just suddenly go away after a relapse.
No, you actually take that knowledge with you to the next streak.
And since you now already have that knowledge in addition to all the new things you are going to learn on this next streak, the relapse did NOT put you down one level, but you can actually look at it as you entering a new, higher level.
A NoFap / porn relapse does not put you back to zero...
And in terms of brain health, a relapse on day 73 does not put you back to zero either, it only puts you back, well God only knows, just a few days.
So, in terms of that we could argue that these days here are ruined, but then what about all of this right here?
You did a lot of dopamine receptor recovery there and all of that is something that you also take with you when you go to the next level here.
So, you see, I’m not just telling you this to try to somehow comfort you if you just relapsed, but it is actually true.
By taking the things you learned during your last streak into account, the tools and tricks you discovered, the brain healing you did, even if let’s say 20% of that got wasted, but you take all of that with you when you start a new streak.
You could even view a NoFap relapse as leveling up...
Which means you almost never start from zero, but you can actually view it as leveling up.
This is also why you guys so often see me comment under someone who just relapsed something like, “Rise again, and let’s now make the next streak even better than your last one.”
So, in addition to all the good you did during your last streak, that you now take with you to your following streak, maybe you’ll start doing physical exercise during this new streak.
- Or meditation
- Or journaling
Wow, there’s some serious leveling up right there.
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Use this to fuel your motivation...
This should motivate you to do a good job, even if you are struggling with relapses, because if you just keep going long enough and just as long as you keep improving, you are always leveling up and you are always making progress.
No matter if you happen to relapse every now and then.
Now, don’t twist my words here either and start thinking, “Oh, so it’s ok to just relapse when I have urges then and then I just keep going”.
But don't start relapsing on purpose...
No, please, of course you should still do your very best to stay strong and avoid relapses altogether. You should always aim for no relapses. But then, IF a relapse happens, know that they never put you back to zero.
Now, I do admit it is a bit different if you’re still on a level where you relapse almost every week, or even several times a week. Then, sure, then you are actually spinning your wheels so much that making any progress is hard.
For this mindset, that I shared today to work, you need to be able to at least go two-three weeks between relapses and preferably more.
You do need to log in some decent NoFap streaks for it to work..
Especially if you’re addicted to porn, then you really need to take it a bit more seriously as you do want to do everything in your power to get a grip on that as fast as possible.
But even then, even then, remember there’s almost never a streak so bad that you are truly 100% back to zero. Because we always learn and grow, so we are never really the same person as we were just a few days ago.
The only day 1 was when you were born...
The only day zero in our lives was the day we were born. And even then, it wasn’t really day zero either, but more like day 1.
Ok, so I hope you found this video helpful and If you do need help with this then you can download my free quitting porn guide down below.
Or take a look at this article right here >> Dopamine Discipline Review, as over there I talk about something that has now helped thousands of men quit porn for good.
Thanks for reading!
-Scandinavian Bob
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