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Hi, guys. Opbagration20 here!
So, I've posted my story on Reddit yesterday: https://www.reddit.com/r/StopGaming/comments/43zexj/my_story/
I guess it is too long, but if you are interested why I decided to quit gaming, than the answer is there. I am not going to specify them here, since the reasons are actually quite simple and known to everyone who faced gaming addiction.
So, let us begin!

Day 1 (4th of February 2016)
Technically speaking, I started earlier, but let's consider this day as the beginning of my detox.
Surprisingly productive day. Surprisingly.

Now, I want to talk about other things I decided to start doing:
1) The first thing I did in the morning was... morning gymnastics. Nothing special there, but I have gave up this "nothing special" habit long time ago. Now for it to enter my life again.
2) When I tried to learn programming I encountered a little problem - I type too slow. Thus, I decided to get rid of that problem by learning touch and type method. How? Program called Solo on a keyboard (Соло на клавиатуре). It is also avaliable in English and costs only 10$. There is a demo version too. So far It proved to be amazing. Not only it teaches you how to type, but also it teaches to control anger and to be persistent. There are 100 exercises and, hell, they are brutal. Extremely. And that is amazing. If you have problems with controling cravings to play games again, than I totally recommend you to give it a go. Why? Because it gives a challenge and it is merciless. It caters to competitive side of my personality.
Oh, and if you decide to try it out, than here is a challenge for you: you do mistake - you redo the exercise from the scratch.
3) I started rereading Gorilla Mindset by Mike Cernovich. But in a very specific way - I read  the book and... interpret to Russian or Ukrainian (depends on my mood), recording my translation on a smartphone. Then I listen to what I have recorded. This method increases perception of the text tenfold, because in order to interpret the text successfully I have to understand it. And if I understand something, I know how to apply it in my life. Also, it improves concentration and my interpretation skills. I started today and I already can see the results - I started making less mistakes.
If you know a foreign language (most of us do), than I recommend to use it whenever possible! Don't let your skils rust!

That all I have to share about habits, so let's move to something I did before the detox:

1) German. Studied it for about 3 or 4 hours. Should actually start tracking the time for better accountability, like it did it...
2) ...with Internet. I use Mind the Time addon for Mozilla Firefox. Wasted only 1 and a half hour on the net today. Used it to relax a little bit, when I was too tired.  Plus, did some exercise on Duolingo for 30 minutes. Not the best result, but I will improve and cut the amount of time I waste. I still find it unacceptable.

So, that is all for today! Have a good day (or night)! Good luck!
 

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This is how I feel when I see another journal up here:

tumblr_lgqwsbEa891qfjmnk.gif

Thanks for leaving your story as a comment on my blog post. It's one of the most epic comments I've seen (3,000+ words!)

Excited to follow your journal here. This is the beginning of something new and exciting for you. :)

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Day 2 (5th of February)

Hi, guys. Opbagration20 here!

Habits

Actually, nothing special to share about new habits today. I am still getting used to those that I have started yesterday. I feel, that I shouldn't hurry too much, because if I introduce a lot of habits at the same time, then I will actually drop all of them. Something like that happened before. Eventually, it led to even more horrendous amounts of procrastination. 3 to 4 major habits and 4-5 minor per week is more than enough!

I am also getting rid of old habits. I like music. The problem is, sometimes I listen to it up to 10-12 hours a day. It may eventually damage my ears. And what is more disturbing it make me less aware of my surroundings. Not only it slows me when I do some work, but it also slows my reaction times on the street (once I almost broke my hand when I was jogging, because I was inattentive). It can actually be very dangerous for my life. So, I decided to set several new rules for myself:


1) I will listen to music only AT HOME. Not when I am jogging, not in gym, not when I walk to university. Only AT HOME.
2) I won't listen to music for more than 3 hours a day (that is still a lot, I know).
3) I won't listen to music when I study. It distracts me. Though, it is acceptable when I simply rewrite something.


Gorilla Mindset

I also continue rereading and slowly applying the mindset techniques from Mike Cernovich's Gorilla Mindset. So far it is amazing - I actually improved my posture considerably and stopped my self-criticising rants, which were frequent during the time when I was addicted to games. I did like he wrote - found a mirror, took a voice recorder and started talking. After listening to it and seeing my facial expression in the mirror, I understood how ridiculous it was. And embarassing. Actually, the exercise was so effective that I can't help but smile, when my mind starts to return to old self-crititcism. I also do self-talk and mindfulness exercises. I feel less anxious and more confident now.

Actually, I always though that I had low self-esteem and that I was a very nervous person. But it is not true. As I get rid of old negative thoughts and thought patterns, I start to realise that my self-esteem is pretty good and that I am quite a skillful and talented person. I also became calmer and I have more control over my actions. The last time I felt so good, was when I was 6 years old. As I see it now, gaming was like 12 years of some nasty fever. I had fun, I felt happy sometimes, but it still felt like my life was empty. It is the second day of my detox and I already feel happy and grateful. Grateful and happy that I am alive. That is amazing!


Fiction, or why reading Game of Thrones is as stupid as playing videogames!

So, I mentioned in my post on Reddit that I did a 3 month detox in 2012. So, why did I stop? There were two reasons:
1) I still viewed games as an acceptable way of entertainment and I still was eager to play some new titiles.
2) I used wrong substitute activity, that as I believed was equal to games. In my case, I read
literary fiction.

I am not against fiction books, not at all, as long as they give you something useful, something that you may use in real life. I read fantasy books like Game of Thrones or sci-fi, like Mass Effect novels. Sometimes I read fanfiction. The problem with this genres lies in the fact, that it requires an insane amount of skill to make them useful. In most cases, they serve only entertainment purposes. It is just business. Most of the games are also made only to entertain you. So here is the catch: reading most of the fiction books (especially those, that are made for entertainment purposes only) is a waste of time. The only positive thing that books like that give  you is an opportunity to improve your knowledge of language. But, you can read books that are more useful and that can teach you or at least make you reevaluate something in your life. Moreover, the language that is used in such books is more complex, than in those that are made for enternatinment purposes only, so you won't lose anything.
A lot of 18-19th century literature is like that, so if you decide to read some literary fiction, than you should start looking there.
The peak of my gaming addiction started, because I didn't understand a very simple thing:

Reading Game of Thrones is as stupid as playing videogames!

Time wasted on the Internet

One hour and a half again. Bad, but I am not worried, because the next semester will start soon and this figure will drop dramatically anyways. I feel that it is acceptable to relax at times by reading some interesting article or watching a video. Especially, during winter holidays. But, I will do my best to cut the amount of wasted time at least two times.

Daily Journal

Writing detailed posts like this one every day like that is difficult and time consuming, so from now on I will write extensive journal entries only on Fridays or Saturdays. A summary post, of a sort, I guess. During other days I will only give details about the time I wasted on the Internet (or other time-wasting stuff) and some activities I did. Maybe, I will share something else too, from time to time, but I will make sure it doesn't consume a lot of time.

So, that is all for today! Have a good day (or night)! Good luck!

Edited by opbagration20
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Awesome post! Post what you can and don't be too stressed about it. Just remember, you found time to game for 8+ hours a day, so finding 30-60 minutes to post a great journal entry (that helps you clarify your thoughts and document your life experience) is possible if you make time for it. :D

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Day 3 (6th of February)

Hi, guys. Opbagration20 here!


Time wasted on the Internet, or propaganda and why I hate it!

I will be honest. I spent 3 hours on the Internet today. Mostly about politics and some controversial historical events. And I wouldn't call it a waste of time. Why? Because I understood that the amount of propaganda and lies that circulate on the Internet today is ridiculous. I do not want to read about it anymore. I do not want to be brainwashed (every country does this, every single of them). Everyone is a liar. I can read 10 different sources and I still won't find out the truth. Thus, from now one I refuse to read all this flow of hatred and negative emotions. Everyone says that he or she has a unique opinion and political views, but in reality that person is as brainwashed as everyone else.  It isn't worth my time. Reading all this is even more stupid as playing videogames. It isn't even fun. it is just depressing to see how people hate each other, because they were told to. Hatred is unproductive. What happened in the past must stay in the past! And we must work today. To build a better society instead of creating more reasons for hatred. Oh, and if something really bad happens (like war) I will find out anyway.
So:
From now on I am going to stop reading about politics and politicians. I do not need propaganda. I do not want to hate.  After all, as Napoleon once said:
 History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.

All this stuff was a major timesink for me lately, so from now on I am sure, that I won't waste time on such nonsense anymore. I guess, there won't be another "time wasted on the Internet" paragraph, like today, next time. I finally figured out the problem.

Habits:


No new habits for now. Everything goes as planned here. I am very satisfied with my results so far. Especially, since I listened to music for only 1 hour today. It became much easier for me to study. I definitely learn faster without music and because of this I will have more time for other activities later on!

So, that is all for today! Have a good day (or night)! Good luck!




 
Edited by opbagration20
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Day 4 (7th of February)
Hi, guys. Opbagration20 here!

Everything goes as planned!


Today I did everything I wanted to do. I read several chapters of Gorilla Mindset using the method I described on the first day. I memorized a lot of words and read several texts in German. I made 25 exercises in Solo on a keyboard (or just SOLO) program today (only 65 lessons left!). They were brutal. Especially, because of the fact that I am a perfectionist and I do not give up until I do an exercise without any mistakes.

Anger control and swearing
When I was doing touch typing exercises I noticed one big problem today: sometimes I get so frustrated, that I smash the keyboard. So, now I am going to start controlling my anger (exercises from Gorilla Mindset help a lot, but I need to use them more often). Excessive anger, just like hatred, is unproductive. Why would I be angry? I make steady progress. Most of the people wouldn't even start going through that course.
Oh, and it is I, who do mistakes, not my keyboard! I also should start controling what I say more strictly. Sometimes I say a lot of bad words and it is not right, I think. I am not like that, I know a lot of words. I read a lot of books. Why would I use the most obscene ones? So, from now I make a commitment to fight this stupid habit.  I must stop swearing, once and for all!

Comments

May I ask what kinds of music do you listen to?

Concise and structured journal. Great stuff.

Thank you for your comment!
Mostly rock, metal and classical music. I can write more next Friday, if you are interested!

 

One of the easiest ways to become happier AND more productive at the same time is to stop paying attention to news. :)

Thank you for all your comments, Cam! And for the amazing forum, site and subreddit you have created! Without them, I, most likely would have continued playing games and destroying my mental and physical health.
Totally agree about the news. And news here in Ukraine tend to be depressing. I was told today, that some people started stealing... food. Just because they don't have money to buy it themselves. Many people earn less than 100$ a month. You have to be lucky to get a work with 150$-200$ salary. Pensioners often get 40$ to 60$. And the amount of hatred on TV and Internet is insane. I definitely made a right decision not to watch or read any of this stuff.
It is too depressing.

So, that is all for today! Have a good day (or night)! Good luck!

 

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Day 5 (8th of February)

Hi, guys. Opbagration20 here!

And... Everthing goes just as I planned!


Nothing special happened today. I continue doing what I am doing. And that's good. Next semester will start soon and I am completely ready for it. I was quite successful at managing anger today too. And that is good!


So, that is all for today! Have a good day (or night)! Good luck!

 

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Sure, I'm always open for new musical suggestions. Especially lately, since I feel a lot less inclined to search for new music by myself.

You seem to be making all right moves so far. That's great, but I think you should keep in mind (as you've noted before) that trying to introduce too many changes in a short time frame = guaranteed failure. Maybe excessive swearing isn't exactly optimal, yet I I wouldn't say it's a huge deal.

 

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Day 6 (9th of February)

Hi, guys. Opbagration20 here!

Back to University!


So, new semester begins today - it is time to double the effort! I have also started attending German language courses.


Habits

No changes - all goes as planned. I can touch type (not very good and slow though) already after I have got through half of the Solo's exercises. They are too brutal at times.
And a new addition to my self-control habits - since I am very superstitious, from now on I am going to ignore every single stupid superstition I believe in (even though I know they are dumb) and prove that they are nothing more than an illusion of my mind!
I am also successful at fighting anger and my swearing habit. I have sweared only 2 or 3 times today, instead of my usual 100 and more a day. Sometimes, back in the day, I made combos of 20+ extremely obscene words. Thanks to the pecularities of grammar in Slavic languages, you can create sentences that consist only of bad words (or мат - mat, as we call it). And sometimes, when I was angry, I said all that to my parents. It is shameful, but it happened. I am glad, that I am finally getting rid of this stupid habit. And of anger of course!

Comments

 

Whoah, you're so organised with your journal.

Thank you! I try to do my best to create a journal, that can help not only me, but also other people to overcome their gaming addiction!


So, that is all for today! Have a good day (or night)! Good luck!

Edited by opbagration20
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Day 7 (10th of February)

Hi, guys. Opbagration20 here!

Another boring day

Nothing special I can tell you today, really. Noticed that I became much calmer. I almost stopped swearing. Anger is still there, but I guess that is the remnant of my old gaming habits.

 

Well, yeah, if you're creating entire speeches entirely made out of curse words, then it's probably an ok idea to look into it. I though you just wanted to stop swearing completely.

No argument there, us Slavs are savages.

Thank you for your comment!
Not entire speeches, but still I was swearing a lot. Especially, when I played with my friends. I sometimes was going totally "berserk" during those games (my friends were noobs, as I thought then) and then I would start "casting" fireballs of pure hatred... No wonder that I lost all of my friends.

Oh, and the first week of my detox is over. That is quite an achievement, I never went so far!


So, that is all for today! Have a good day (or night)! Good luck!

Edited by opbagration20
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Day 8 (11th of February)

Hi, guys. Opbagration20 here!

Studying all day

Difficult day. Very tired. A lot of lectures in University and then German courses. Tiresome and boring. I will write a bigger entry tomorrow, where I will share my thoughts on the first week of detox and write about my favorite metal bands and albums and my other favorite genres (nothing special there, though). If you never were into metal, then, I hope, you will find something interesting.

So, that is all for today! Have a good day (or night)! Good luck!

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Oh yeah, congratz.

It's possible that staying off games will get somewhat tougher down the line. I'm sure it's not the same for everyone, but it's what people have been reporting (and what I've experienced countless times & where I'm now with my glorious day 11).

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Day 9 (12th of February)

Hi, guys. Opbagration20 here!

First week
Well, the first week of my detox is over (technically speaking it is the 9th day of the detox, but…). And, well, it was amazing. Really, amazing. I learned a lot of new stuff. I become calmer and braver every day. It is impressive, how negative was the influence of my gaming addiction. I finally can control my thoughts, emotions and actions. My willpower increases every day. I… I feel alive. Quitting games was like waking up from a long, long sleep.

The Test

Oh yeah, congratz.

It's possible that staying off games will get somewhat tougher down the line. I'm sure it's not the same for everyone, but it's what people have been reporting (and what I've experienced countless times & where I'm now with my glorious day 11).

Thanks you for all your comments! I actually tried watching a let's play today to test my resolve. Result: a lot of negative emotions. It was dumb. It was boring. I watched it for 5 minutes and only one thought occured in my mind: if playing videogames is dumb, then how dumb it is to watch someone else's gameplay? I guess, I won't have any problems with staying off games. Reason? I understood that gaming brings me only negative emotions. Maybe they were fun, but somewhere in the depths of my mind I felt miserable. I don't want to play them anymore. And my little test only confirmed my attitude to gaming - I want to live my own, not someone else's, life.

Congrats on your first week! Proud of you man :)

Thank you! I finally feel alive again!

NoFap and quitting videogames
I actually started my nofap earlier than gaming detox (half a month ago). I am using the method described here: http://zhizn-bez-onanizma.ru/
Sadly, it is in Russian and there is no English version as of now. But, maybe I will translate it when I will have more free time, because the method is pure EPIC WIN.
Actually, it helped me a lot with quitting games. The method is so easy, that it is actually difficult to describe it. It works so well, that I have no cravings to fap at all. How? All you have to do is to stop your sexual fantasies. It is easy: once you notice the first signs of them, return to reality. Open your eyes. Investigate your surroundings. Touch them. Smell them. The more information your sensory system gets, the better. Most likely you will find out that you are in a room, that is cluttered with a lot of garbage and that you are alone. No supermodels. No harem of virgins. Only you. Then try to visualise, how the situation you are in, will look like from other person's perspective. Quite embarassing.
The same rules work for porn and... videogames too. Basically, everything you see on the other side of the screen is not real. Porn is not real. Games are not real.
Another good advice is to defeat yourself BEFORE quitting masturbation or games. You have to understand that it is bad for your health, that there is nothing beneficial that masturbation or games give you. If you don't understand that, than the entire nofap or gaming detox will turn into a nightmare. Into a fight you won't be able to win, because you would be fighting yourself. You would end up just like everyone else on NoFap or AntiO (a Russian nofap site) - a lot of whining and then relapse. And some people repeat that pattern for several years without any results.
By the by, that is why I watched let's play today and why I am not panicked when I see the pictures of nude women or porn on the Internet (and sometimes it is impossible to avoid). I understand how dumb it is to watch them. I finally live in real world. Everything that happens in my fantasies or on the screen is not real.
Remember: all battles are won before they even start.

Habits


I actually touch-typed this entry. Solo helps a lot. I have got through half of the exercises already and I am sure that once I finish it, I will type even faster and better. It also helped a lot with swearing and anger problems. Thanks to that program, I impoved my self-control skills a lot (I will share more of my thoughts once I finish the training).
I also continue studying German and using my read-interpret-record-listen method got through 2/3 of Gorilla Mindset. I improved both my reading comprehension and interpretation skills a lot. I can interpret for 16 minutes without any pauses already. And that is only a week of training. I don't even dare to imagine what I will be able to do in a month or a year.

Music

По многочисленным просьбам трудящихся, хе-хе.
I can talk about my favorite music for hours, I will be writing a paragraph about music once in a month or two, since I think that music is a very important part of our lives. Complete silence can sometimes drive people to madness. We live in a world full of sounds, that is why we like music so much. I will talk about 3 metal bands today. This is not a top 3, I like every band's music equally. You won't find anything extremely original here, if you like metal though. So, without further ado, let's start:
1) Iron Maiden. Yes, I am not very original. If you know at least something about metal, then you, probably, know something about Iron Maiden. I recommend to start with some fan or official compilation, then, maybe, watch some old live performances.
Albums: well, there is a lot of them (around 15). My favorite one's are: Number of the Beast (the first album where Bruce Dickinson was a vocalist), Seventh Son of the Seventh Son (I think it was the peak of Maiden's performance) and, let's take something more recent – The Book of Souls. I would also like to highlight The X Factor and Virtual XI, because in during that time the band had another vocalist – Blaze Bayley. Both albums are hated by most of fans, but I guess that is because of how different the style of the band became during that time. Actually, I think that those two were quite good but, sadly, not as good as they could have been. Especially, since the band tried to make Blaze sing like Bruce. That was quite dumb and damaged Blaze's vocal cords during world tours.
2)
Blaze Bayley. After leaving Iron Maiden, Blaze created his own band. And, oh, it delivers. It is difficult to recommend something since every Blaze's album is superb. The band has a very unique, grim and heavy style. I would recommend to start with Silicon Messiah – the first album of the band. It is very heavy and has a very interesting sci-fi concept. You can also listen to Soundtracks of My Life – the official compilation of 30 songs from all albums (several new one's were added too). Another superb album is The Man Who Would Not Die. A very powerful album, has amazing and very mature lyrics. Also, I recommend King of Metal – the latest album. It was recorded in three or fours weeks, it is imperfect, it received very mixed reviews… And that is why I like it. Yes, it would have been a good idea to work more on some of the songs. But it is very honest and… well, alive. I use one of the songs from that album – Fighter, instead of a morning affirmation.
3)
Metallica. Everyone knows Metallica. Recommendations? Don't listen to anything released after Black Album (1991). Except maybe S&M live, which was epic. Best album: …And Justice for All. The most mature Metallica's album. Very mature lyrics… and, of course, it is so difficult to perform on that “we're never fucking playing that song again“. Every song is 8 to 10 minutes long, so it is not surprising.

So, that is all for today! Have a good day (or night)! Good luck!

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Day 10 (13th of February)

Hi, guys. Opbagration20 here!


"Learn, Learn, Learn" 
I don't like communists, but I definitely agree with Lenin on this -  learning something is one of the best activities in the world. And, what I like about it the most is the fact that you can study for your entire life and you won't know much anyways. That is what I do, today and on every other day -  learning. I have no boredom whatsoever because of this. And that is good. Learning is good.


Comments

Way to go man! Day 9 already, that's awesome. And this is only the beginning. As time goes on your gaming fog will continue to fade away and you'll notice even more clarity, willpower and focus for the future. Really excited for you and to continue to follow along.

Thank you! It is impressive, how fast I return the control over my life. Everyday I feel that I become better and better. That feeling alone can substitute any videogame.

So, that is all for today! Have a good day (or night)! Good luck!

Edited by opbagration20
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Day 11 (14th of February)

Hi, guys. Opbagration20 here!

Touch typing

I have been training this skill a lot today. Finally managed to get throught a little stalemate phase in Solo on a keyboard (which started around lesson 40). I have gone through 14 lessons today and managed to get through one of the most difficult in the course - 68. My typing speed is still quite slow (around 170-200), but I am able to type almost without mistakes already. And a little advice, if you decide to learn typing using this or other program - don't give up and always strive for perfection. During that little "stalemate" of mine I made a very large mistake - I whined that the exercises are too difficult for me and that there is no use trying to get perfect scores. But there is. Do exercises slowly and soon you exceed your wildest expectations. Festina lenta (Latin proverb - hurry slowly
). Now it takes only 1-6 tries to get through the most brutal exercises.

So, that is all for today! Have a good day (or night)! Good luck!
 

Edited by opbagration20
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Days 12-13 (15th and 16th of February)

Hi, guys. Opbagration20 here!


Nothing special
Yeah, all I do is studying. And I will study tomorrow too. If nothing interesting happens, most likely it will be a waste of time to write something. I am already doing the 73 lesson in Solo. The difficulty of exercises now is immense, but I hope to finish all of them by Sunday,

So, that is all for today! Have a good day (or night)! Good luck!
 

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