Masturbation YES or NO

MASTURBATION YES OR NO
Last night, before I left work, one of my coworkers asked me if I masturbated. The topic first began when she asked me if I owned a vibrator. When I told her no she was confused and rephrased the question. I answered the same way.

"So like...you don't ever have those lonely nights where you just want to touch yourself?"

"No."

"I mean, you don't masturbate at all?"

"Nope."

"That's impossible!"

"Well I use to masturbate when I was like...14."

"14! You are so lame. I would die, I have to masturbate!"

It was a laugh we shared as we were closing the store, but I explained to her that my reasons for not masturbating is because I didn't want a constant reminder of sex. I mean think about it. Abstaining from sex is hard enough, and if you're really serious about it, like I am, you really want to focus on things other than sex so it won't trigger anything in your body that will make the journey that much harder. I know for me, this is my third try being abstinent, and I can honestly say I came into this journey totally on my A game. I mean I stopped listening to foul music. I looked up foods that might make you aroused, in which I stopped eating. I put limits on what I should and should not do with men, what time periods are appropriate to do them, and what topics to focus on when the sun is up or down. Most importantly, not that I had an issue with it in the beginning, I stopped masturbating. I would just prefer not to tease myself or end up reverting back.

Abstaining from sex may look easy if a vibrator is involved, but it actually makes the journey much harder, in my opinion, if not handicap it. Think of it this way. You are use to having someone pleasure you, whether it is frequently or not. Then you decided to abstain, but you use a vibrator just a frequently as you use to have sex, which is not a crime. However, in my opinion, if you meet a guy, the vibrator can do one of two things. It can trigger something in your emotions or your body with the guy you may be seeing. For example, if things are getting hot and heavy with the man you are seeing, you might allow him to touch you a certain way that could tease you a little. You might decided that the rules you set up in which to kiss the guy you are with are irrelevant, because you subconsciously or consciously want him physically. You might even go as far as to second guess yourself as to the limits you will go to get that much closer to him physically. Once you know it, you'll be fantasizing about the guy you secretly want to have and that vibrator won't do the trick. Now self control is self control, that I do believe. However, don't you think the journey would be a lot easier if you eliminate all aspects of sex rather than giving into a few to suddenly in the end find the journey to be too difficult to handle. In my opinion, if a vibrator is involved and/or used frequently, the chances of completing your abstinent goal is scarce. Having the vibrator in general puts sex in your life (in which you are trying to abstain). So you may negotiate doing oral rather than penetration. It's just a backslide in my opinion and it doesn't trick the mind.

What I'm trying to say is, hormones or uncontrollable hormones are a mind thing. Just because you are feeding the body with your vibrator doesn't mean you are tricking the mind. You have to starve the mind in order to get postitive results. That's what I did. I knew going into this journey the third time around (yes the first and second time did not work)it would require me to make some major changes.

What do you think about masturbation in regards to abstinence?