So i'd say my main addiction aside from porn is actually masturbating to pictures of hot girls - especially girls my age that I know in real life or have seen around. This will always be my first option if I want to MO, until of course my brain gets tired of it and needs something more stimulating which is porn. So while on nofap, would it sort of count as a relapse if I expose myself to a picture of a hot girl but not M or O to it? I remember I read somewhere on the pornaddiction website that a guy experimented of not watching porn, but still MO'ing and achieved same results of less anxiety, more confidence, etc whereas watching porn but not MOing resulted in the anxiety and such. And that's where my question arises from the fact that even though im not M'ing or O'ing but still exposing myself to the one thing that stimulates my mind the most - pics of hot girls, celebs, etc, would it be hurting me?
It's a P sub (porn substitute). I wouldn't count it as a relapse for motivational reasons, but I agree with @SlapTheFap that you're playing with fire. How about considering the way it makes you feel. Do you start to feel that warm cloudy dopamine haze inside of your brain? May be you need it right now, but you should consider watching an episode of your favorite TV series or eating some candy instead to get rid of that sexual aspect.
Its totally upto you how you reboot yourself. But apart from that I would suggest not to look upon hot pics or similar things. Accidentally you stumble upon these things thats another thing but intentionally doing this may lead to MALFUNCTION. See I agree with @SlapTheFlap. First of all when you are rebooting place your mindset to a point that doesn't mean you have to be a monk for lifetime, but that too doesn't mean at beginning you can experiment with these. See brain is a tricky place and me myself hampered that with many things alongwith PMO, so from my experience please dont lead yourself to that point. To understand PMO and Brain you can check these two videos if you haven't As for now simply continue your journey dont shift your focus on these things it will lead you to nowhere. Continue your journey and get yourself when you stumble and the rest of the magic will be done by fellow Fapstronauts.
The answer is yes. It's a no brainer. You are wanting your brain to heal from the overstimulation of fake sex and arousal. So gawping at your porn substitute is not going to allow for recovery from your addiction. You have to challenge yourself to cut it out now, completely. Great videos recommended by @Covert (above). Yes, we will be cheering you on @SeekingLife.
To me, just seeing a non-nude photo of girl is Not a relapse.. MO to photo is.. there are images of women every where you go, billbords, ads, tv shows, music videos, hot video game characters.. if you guys count it as a slip just seeing a photo of a girl, you would not get 1 day.. but looking at hot photos of bikini babes etc has alwaya led to MO to me.. So i do my best to not do it.. i deleated all hoochie girls who use body shots to get attention on facebook and instigram, and have a blocker on my phone that forces safemode for youtube.
@Fork2323, just seeing a non-nude photo of girl is not what he said. The OP spoke of "the one thing that stimulates my mind the most - pics of hot girls". Now what is hot to him may well not be hot to me or to you. This is the whole point of a p/sub - it is whatever turns YOU on. I always think feet is a good example. I am not a fan of feet, in fact they can be quite a turn off! Yet a picture of a girl's feet may be really arousing to somebody else. Is it porn, no! Is it a p/sub to HIM? Yes!
I used to do this sometimes looking at non-pornographic images of women and it dosent seem ethically wrong or nearly as bad especially without M or O. But this is still a problem and should be avoided. I experienced a lot of benefits after abandoning this habit and it is a crucial step that needs to be taken to give up this or any other type of unreal sexual stimuli. It will be hard to resist this urge at first but you need to cut out viewing such images to further progress imo. Good luck
As much as I like the metaphor. Playing with fire (P-subs/PMO) has it's own degrees. The minimum that can happen are p-subs, and I like to empathize the fact that it's still harmful and not a relapse. Best to head towards a cold shower to stop the burning sensation.
I was on this road before, I can tell you exactly where it leads: You start looking at non nude hot woman, you keep with that for some time feeling good that you can resist, then lets say after week you persuade yourself that those girls in bikini/short skirt/lingerie are still not nude, and you have already proved that you can resist it. Then you start looking at nude woman since you know you can resist and those girls in lingerie you watch are almost naked anyway. And then you watch it , happy, resist day by day until you simply dont resist one day. And you can start from beginning. I relapsed twice this way sometimes resisting even for 20-30 days.
SeekingLife, The point is, you already admitted in your opening statement that, "So i'd say my main addiction aside from porn is actually masturbating to pictures of hot girls". So why would you take a chance of doing this when you know where it can (and has) led to? For some of us, I think P/sub/fetishes/kinks can be just as destructive as P itself. Agreeing 100% with @IGY at 11:43 and JustinX. Guard your eyes, and guard your mind.
Im kind of in the same ball park as our friend seekinglife. does going on tinder to find a date or even just to talk to count as a relapse?
@Jungler - why would you say that looking at material that sexually stimulates @SeekingLife is not a relapse?
I know this depends on someones personal goals, but it's the least that can happen in rebooting yet it does slow down your recovery. My only guess is that if you don't get stimulated that much to touch yourself, you're safe. I also stated in one of my recent threads that i find it hard to browse YT since there's a shit ton of stimulating material while i'm watching something completely unrelated. Depriving yourself from an over-sexualized world is merely difficult, it's everywhere at every corner.