Getting Started with This Whole Idea
So, I’d heard about all these “No [Something] November” type challenges, right? And it got me thinking. Why always about not doing something? What about dedicating a month to… well, to something else entirely? That’s kinda how this “masturbation month” idea popped into my head. Wasn’t super planned, more like a “huh, what if?” moment while I was, you know, scrolling through the internet one evening, probably avoiding doing something actually productive.
Laying Down Some Ground Rules (Or Lack Thereof)
Honestly, I didn’t go into it with a strict rulebook. I wasn’t aiming for a world record or anything. My main thought was just to be more… intentional about it, I guess? Instead of it being a random, mindless thing that just sort of happens when you’re bored or trying to fall asleep. My big idea was to just see what happened if I made it a more conscious part of my routine for a month. No pressure, no specific targets I had to hit. Just… explore. See if it changed anything about how I felt, my mood, stress levels, whatever. I told myself, “Okay, dude, for the next 30 days or so, you’re just gonna pay a bit more attention to this whole thing.” Figured it couldn’t hurt, right?
The Day-to-Day Grind (Well, Not Exactly a Grind)
So, the first week kicked off. I actually tried to, like, schedule it in sometimes. Sounds a bit clinical, I know, and maybe a bit weird. But I figured if I was being “intentional,” that meant not just waiting until I was super bored or couldn’t sleep. Sometimes I tried it in the morning, to see if it set a different tone for the day – spoiler, sometimes it just made me want to go back to bed. Other times, it was the usual evening slot, a wind-down thing.
- Week 1: Felt a bit forced, not gonna lie. Almost like a chore I’d assigned myself. I was definitely overthinking it. “Am I doing this ‘intentional’ thing right?” “Is this ‘exploration’ or am I just wanking more?” Silly, really, when I look back.
- Week 2: I kind of relaxed into it a bit more. I stopped trying to make it A Grand Experiment and just let it be. This is when it got more interesting, less like homework. I noticed I was actually a bit less on edge generally. Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe finally paying attention to a basic need helped. Who knows.
- Week 3: This was peak exploration, I guess you could call it. Tried different… well, let’s just say I varied the routine. Different times of day, different moods. Listened to different music, or no music at all. It became less about the end goal, you know, the orgasm, and more about the actual process. That was a bit of a revelation, actually. Never really thought about it that way before.
- Week 4: By this point, it just felt… normal. Not in a boring, mundane way, but just integrated. I wasn’t constantly thinking “it’s masturbation month” anymore. It was just part of my self-care options, like deciding to take a long shower or actually eat a vegetable.
What I Reckon I Learned From All This
Okay, so what did I get out of this whole month-long personal project? Honestly, the biggest takeaway was about being more in tune with myself. Sounds a bit fluffy and cliché, but it’s true. By making it a conscious act, rather than just a mindless habit, I actually paid more attention to what my body and mind were signaling they needed. Sometimes that was stress relief, sometimes it was just connection with my own body.
I also found it was a pretty decent stress reliever, probably more than I gave it credit for before when it was just an afterthought. When I was actively thinking about it as a way to de-stress, it seemed to work better. Funny how that works, just changing your mindset about something. It wasn’t some magic bullet for all my problems, obviously. My anxieties didn’t just evaporate, and my bills still needed paying. But it did make me feel a bit more… grounded? Yeah, grounded is a good word. A bit more present in my own skin.
And you know what else? It made me realize how much we (or at least, I) don’t really think about this stuff in a neutral way. Like, it’s either a punchline in a joke or some super serious, often shameful, topic. But just exploring your own body and what feels good, without all the baggage? That felt pretty empowering, in a quiet, personal kind of way. No big drama, no guilt, just… curiosity and self-acceptance. It’s my body, after all.
So, Would I Do It Again?
Yeah, maybe. Not necessarily as a formal “month-long challenge” again, with a label and everything. That felt a bit contrived after a while. But the lessons about intentionality and self-awareness? I’m definitely trying to carry those forward into, well, regular life. It wasn’t about the act itself becoming some huge, all-consuming part of my life, but more about understanding it better and its place as one tool in the toolbox for feeling okay. It’s like, I tinkered with something, figured out a few things about how I work, and now I have a better handle on it. Simple as that. It was just an experiment, and like any good experiment, I learned a few things. No biggie, but kinda useful all the same.
