NoPornFap is carrying its weight

For a long time, I didn’t feel the same pull toward gaming that I once did. The excitement, the thrill of exploring new worlds, and the challenge of mastering a game all seemed to fade into the background. Even though gaming has always been something I cherished, it felt like a distant memory—something I just couldn’t get into anymore. It was perplexing. I didn’t know why, but the passion I once had was gone.

Then, something unexpected happened. I decided to quit watching porn.

Believe it or not, this change started happening as early as three days in. My desire to engage in hobbies I had long abandoned—like gaming—was slowly coming back. It wasn’t an immediate rush, but over time, I felt that spark of curiosity. It was as if the door to that part of my brain had been unlocked, and suddenly, the joy of gaming was there again.

I'm not talking about popular session-based games like League and Valorant. These are drugs all by themselves and should be avoided. The games I really want to bring up are single-player and engagement-oriented multiplayer.

One game, in particular, stood out: Faeland. I’ve held this one in high regard because it felt like a mix of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Metroidvania - a nostalgic blend of what I loved about gaming as a kid. I had played it briefly in the past.

This time, though, something was different. I was actually excited to explore, to go on that journey, to face new bosses and challenge myself. And even though I couldn’t beat the first new boss area, I found myself trying again and again - three attempts before I finally called it quits for the day. I would have tried more, but reaching the boss area again took around five minutes. It didn’t feel like a defeat. It felt like... engagement. And that, for me, was huge.

I’ve been thinking about why this shift happened. Why is it that quitting porn helped me rekindle my love for gaming? The answer, I believe, lies in how dopamine and reward systems work. When we consume addictive, overstimulating content like porn, our brain's reward system becomes overloaded.

We lose the ability to find pleasure in smaller, more meaningful things - like hobbies or even simple everyday joys. But by stepping away from that, even slowly, the brain begins to recalibrate itself. And that’s when we start to reconnect with things that once brought us joy.

If you’re in a similar situation, where you feel like your interests have faded or you’ve lost the spark for things you used to love, I encourage you to take a step back and reflect. Maybe you are a porn addict and maybe quitting it is what you need to take that fun part of your life back. Not sure how to start? Visit my other post to see how I'm doing it.

image https://pixabay.com/pt/illustrations/ai-gerado-logotipo-le%C3%A3o-jogos-8677989/