Stop Chasing

[Monster Energy]

This isn’t advice or a recommendation. It’s just an observation from my own experience.

For a long time, my baseline felt inefficient. Not broken, just constantly losing energy. A lot of stimulation, a lot of discharge, very little settling. I didn’t realize how normal that felt until it stopped.

Periods of nofap didn’t give me highs or confidence. They reduced noise. Urges still appeared, but they stopped pulling me outward. Energy stayed in the system instead of immediately seeking release.

Dry fasting worked on the same principle, but more directly. When stimulation drops close to zero, the body has no option but to regulate itself. You notice quickly whether your calm is real or dependent on inputs.

What emerged wasn’t pleasure or insight, but coherence.

Here’s the part that surprised me most:

when internal energy is stable and sufficient, the external stops having leverage.

I noticed that I only chased the outside when something inside was low or leaking. Images, validation, stimulation, meaning. When the internal state was strong and settled, the external couldn’t give me life anymore. It could be appreciated, but not used as a source.

That reframed the question for me.

Why do we chase the external in the first place?

Not because it’s inherently valuable, but because the system is compensating. When internal energy is low, the mind looks outward for regulation. When internal energy is high and coherent, the need to chase disappears on its own.

Nothing is being suppressed. Nothing is being resisted. There’s just no deficit to fix.

I’m careful not to frame nofap or dry fasting as cures. They’re tools, and tools affect people differently. Used poorly, they can destabilize rather than heal. Context and honesty matter.

But one pattern has been consistent for me. When stimulation and discharge stop long enough, energy settles inward. And when that happens, the sense of being unfinished fades.

 

[Hojo]

This is AIs observations