Long story.
Back in highschool. I've always had this psychological thing where upon watching a movie or a series I like, I would emulate the main character of that medium.
Upon watching a series with a character who is a hardworking, analytical genius, as silly as this sounds, I pretended to be him. Keeping him in mind whenever I did schoolwork, listening to his soundtrack whenever I did homework. I changed from a lazy but smart guy to being the top of my entire year. My social circle changed immensely.
After that, two things happened simultaneously. I discovered girlschase (my first article being 'Making girls laugh means NOTHING) and watching a wholesome romance series with an exceptionally beautiful and competent female lead character, and a strong male character. The love story really touched me deep down. At that time I was extremely lonely, and practically addicted to pornography and masturbation.
But something interesting happened: I started to believe that the only way to get a girl like the one from that series was to stop jacking off to porn, and that changed my behavior pretty much overnight.
My goal was now to become the perfect man for a girl like her, frequently rewatching the series to reinforce my ambitions. She was on the top of the social ladder (alpha female) , therefore I believed the only way to get a girl like that was to become someone of the same quality if not better.
And it worked. I did even better at school, garnering the respect of all my peers and teachers. I was able to contend with the most athletic guys, and at one point I was even the fastest sprinter out of everyone.
Meanwhile I kept reading girlschase articles, I worked on becoming more smooth, I changed my style from cargo pants and random clothes to shirts, boots, form fitting jeans.
A couple months in and the prettiest, smartest girls were after me, asking me on dates, acting all flirty, rubbing their thighs against me - even outside I got checked out a lot.
But it was ultimately meaningless, because I was so fixated on my perfect girl that I scrutinized the shit out of any prospective girlfriend - also, my sex drive completely nonexistent because of my 'vow of chastity. I was basically saving myself up for a better girl.
All this culminated in some broken hearts, and me being down in the dumps.
After 7 months of no porn, no masturbation, I jerked off again (it took me hours because I was so against breaking all my beliefs I had built up until then) and afterwards I felt empty and miserable.
My grades sizzles out afterwards, pretty much went back to where they used to be before. Same for my relationships.
8 years since then, and I can say those months are one of the most important times in my life, and changed me forever.