Anxiety, depression, and insomnia are typical withdrawal symptoms on NoFap.
But there’s an odd symptom that isn’t talked about as much.
Crying.
Wait. Isn’t NoFap supposed to make you tougher and manlier? What’s up with all this crying?
Being emotional on NoFap isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are theories that suggest your brain is emotionally “recalibrating” itself. And crying is part of the process. It’s also a fantastic release of pent-up emotions.
In this article, we’ll explore the reasons behind your emotions. We’ll also give you actionable tips to help stop the tears — and how to prevent them from happening in the first place.
Why Are You Crying?
NoFap puts your emotions on a roller coaster. Sometimes you’re on cloud nine and other times you’re down in the dumps.
Many things can cause intense sadness that leads to crying. But why do you feel it more when you’re on NoFap?
It’s a tough question to answer. Mainly because it depends on the person. Some guys will feel amazing throughout NoFap — and only feel sad during a flatline. Other guys will feel fine in the first couple of weeks but have extreme emotions afterward.
Here’s a general roadmap for what will happen with your emotions:
- Your emotions will be all over the place in the first couple of months. Imagine being on bedrest for months. When you can get up, you have to learn to walk again. Many guys go through a period like this on NoFap. But instead of learning to walk, their brain has to “relearn” how to function without porn.
- Once the first stage is over, guys will notice their emotions are stable. This is a return to their “baseline” level of dopamine.
- After being on NoFap for a while, guys will still have great emotional control. But this time, they’re able to feel deeper emotions (both positive and negative). This is excellent because emotion is a driver for action.
Porn blunts your emotions. In addition to the return to baseline dopamine mentioned above, guys may even go above baseline. This is why many report a “child-like” excitement for life again.
Triggers That May Cause Crying
Sometimes your spells of crying and sadness are random. Other times they’re triggered. Here’s a list of common triggers:
- Sad news/content: You’ll care more about people instead of feeling flat. If you’re watching tragic news you may be triggered to cry.
- Life circumstances: Since porn numbs you, it can make you unaware of your life situation. Of course, not everyone’s life is in shambles. But if an area of your life is bothering you, NoFap will make you feel it strongly. If you have a job you hate, you’ll have emotions towards it. The same goes for feeling like you’ve wasted your life. Another common example is loneliness and the desire for intimacy. This can be seen as a blessing because it lets you tackle these issues head-on instead of hiding behind porn.
- Stress: Crying can be the body’s way of releasing stress. NoFap and other factors can cause stress. When guys don’t have their regular porn sessions to fall back on, crying becomes a release.
Accept your emotions for what they are. Remember, crying isn’t a bad thing! It’s your brain’s natural way of processing your feelings. Trust the process and let your brain recalibrate itself. If you’re in a situation where crying is inappropriate, avoid triggers.
How to Stop Crying on NoFap
If you’re in a situation where crying is embarrassing, you may want to suppress it.
If your sadness weighs you down, practice meditation and mindfulness.
Guided meditation is better when you’re alone. It focuses on not attaching importance to thoughts that fuel sadness.
Mindfulness can be done around others. This is about catching yourself when sad thoughts arise. When you become aware of those thoughts, use the noting technique. This involves labeling these thoughts. It’ll allow you to detach from them more easily.
Similarly, being aware of when you’re experiencing a trigger will help you stop crying.
Healthy outlets for your emotions are a terrific long-term solution. Exercising or engaging in creative expression will help you channel your feelings into something productive. Creativity is a beneficial tool to release sadness.
Talking to someone about your crying issues on NoFap can be awkward. But you can find support from your family, friends, or others online.
As mentioned, there isn’t anything wrong with crying. And you might not need to stop crying. If you’re at home and need to release pent-up emotions, let the tears go.
However, if your crying spells last for a few weeks, consider speaking with a therapist to help you overcome this. Biological factors such as a hormone imbalance may be to blame as well.
Prevention Strategies
Understand that PMO (porn, masturbation, orgasm) is a coping mechanism for many men.
Since you’re giving up this “crutch”, you’ll need healthier coping strategies. This can require an overhaul of many areas depending on your situation:
- First, we recommend improving your self-care regimen. This involves bettering yourself holistically.
- Next, you want to address underlying emotional issues. Finding a professional that can help you with this is often overlooked.
- Guys can also be very “gung ho” about NoFap. Learning to ease into it can be a process.
Let’s cover these three areas in more detail.
Self-Care
Before you apply other strategies, you need to practice self-care. Self-care isn’t about indulging in pleasure or being selfish. Rather, it’s doing things that better yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Self-care has been trending upwards quickly according to Google. Searches for self-care have increased more than five-fold since 2018. This is for good reason — cases of anxiety and depression have skyrocketed, and people are looking towards self-care as part of the solution.
Here are the different categories of self-care:
- Emotional: Meet up with friends regularly, do a spa day, or give yourself a moment to slow down and unwind. Emotional self-care also includes saying “no” to extra tasks that give you stress.
- Physical: Improve your sleeping habits and adopt an exercise routine if you don’t have one. Instead of trying out the next fad diet, choose healthier, whole foods over processed foods.
- Spiritual: Meditate, journal, or attend a religious service. Also, consider giving back to the community and volunteering for charitable causes.
The definition of self-care varies from person to person. However, be mindful of how your decisions affect you. For example, playing video games is a great way to destress. But it might not be a good self-care activity if it cuts into your sleeping time.
The goal of self-care habits is to make you healthier overall. This will give you a stronger presence of mind which will reduce crying on NoFap.
Therapy
Therapy is a fantastic way to uncover the root cause of your crying.
NoFap may have exposed an unrelated issue which gives you the chance to correct it. This can also be done through self-reflection.
NoFap is a time of growth. And sometimes it means outgrowing your friends. This can cause complex emotions such as grief and frustration. It’s important to examine these feelings before the tears come.
Many clients are embarrassed about crying during therapy. Some are even apologetic. However, therapists say there’s no need to be sorry. On the other hand, many clients appreciate the experience of feeling much better after crying.
Ease Into Nofap
We recommend making changes gradually. Changing too much, too quickly can be overwhelming and cause you to backslide.
Gradually easing into NoFap can reduce emotional strain. This is crucial to minimize or prevent crying altogether.
It’s also helpful to understand why guys begin NoFap with bravado and excitement.
NoFap can be something new and exciting in someone’s life. They put in a lot of effort because of this. They watch videos, talk about it, and make many changes. While this is a positive thing, the problem is this causes them to think about NoFap too much. And that causes stress.
Another reason is the “day counter.” It overwhelms some people when they don’t live up to their “x” day goal. Instead, view day counters as an accountability tool. If it’s hurting you more than helping, stop tracking streaks.
There may be lesser-known reasons for an obsession with NoFap. This is a great topic to bring up during therapy if it’s a negative force in your life.
To Conclude
We’re conditioned to think it isn’t manly to cry. But NoFap is a particular point of transformation in your life. As this is happening, you may experience episodes of crying.
Talking to someone, practicing mindfulness, and exercising are great ways to stop crying. However, there’s nothing wrong with crying. It’s your brain’s way of sorting itself out during NoFap.
If it’s having a negative impact on your life, crying may be linked to something else. Be sure to speak to a professional about it. We advise adding self-care practices into your life. Additionally, ease into NoFap-related changes such as going to the gym and a better diet.
Also, avoid making big decisions while you’re emotional. Calm down, and enter a logical state of mind before doing so.
And lastly, try not to have judgments or negative feelings towards your crying. Regardless of societal pressures on you to be a “manly” guy, crying is okay once in a while. If it’s excessive, follow the advice here and we’re confident you’ll be happier and healthier.
