Journal - Gresa

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

I'm 19 and have been "serious gaming" since 13.

Last year I had to study and stopped gaming (almost stopped internet completely actually) for 10 months with great results in many chapters of my life.But then summer came, and having all this spare time suddenly I decided to go back to gaming "temporarily" to relax.As you can propably guess I have been hardcore gaming since.I'm now looking forward trying to quit again.

I believe i found this website 2 months ago, and finally I decided to talk a little instead of just reading.

So i'll try to keep this updated as much as I can,perhaps post some goals here(I saw a few doing that) and we'll see how this goes.

Have a nice day.

[Cam Adair]

Hey Gresa! Thanks for joining us here. Are there any videos I could make that would help you this summer? I have been thinking about new videos for the summer lately.

[gankylosaurus]

Welcome, Gresa! I can't imagine quitting games for almost a year like you did. Sounds like that took a lot of self control. I'm guessing you had a lot of pressure on you from school to do that?

No shame in falling back, though. That happens plenty often with addiction. You fall off, sometimes harder than others, and then you just have to get back on. The silver lining is that each time you fall, you tend to learn something new.

Keep us posted!

[Guest]

Hey Gresa! Thanks for joining us here. Are there any videos I could make that would help you this summer? I have been thinking about new videos for the summer lately.

 Thanks for the respone.Hmm...So one thing that I'm thinking is whether or not I should continue reading the warcraft lore.I mean I haven't played the game since summer really but the books I find interesting and well written(some of them).Do you believe I should cut them aswell?

Welcome, Gresa! I can't imagine quitting games for almost a year like you did. Sounds like that took a lot of self control. I'm guessing you had a lot of pressure on you from school to do that?

No shame in falling back, though. That happens plenty often with addiction. You fall off, sometimes harder than others, and then you just have to get back on. The silver lining is that each time you fall, you tend to learn something new.

Keep us posted!

Thanks for the respone man.

Hmm...it wasn't exactly self-control, it was more like ignoring and avoiding the "enemy".What I did was to completely remove the pc from the house and since most of my close friends were also studying,we avoided any gaming related conversations.So I quickly stopped thinking about it.

But of couse just removing the pc is not a solution anymore, so I'm looking to do it in a more "proffesional" way this time.

 

Day 1

I don't have to say much really.The good news is that I didn't game.I did a few of the things that I had do, and that's about it really.

Oh man I feel like this is the most boring diary already .

So anyway I believe I'll need to start creating some sort of plan for the next day and the next day...You know so I have a direction instead of just filling time.

Bye!

[WorkInProgress]

Don't worry about boring. How did you fill your freed up time? How did you feel about it?

[Falky]

Welcome to the forums and good job on starting your journal! Don't worry about if your journal is boring or not, you have to remember its your and no one else's. So write how ever little or much as you like.

Yeah creating a plan is beneficial to completing your detox, fill up your day with learning new stuff and doing things to keep your mind and body busy.

All the best.

 

[Guest]

Don't worry about boring. How did you fill your freed up time? How did you feel about it?

Internet browsing.You know the feeling you have when you waste time  .

 

Thanks Falky, i'll have that in mind.

 

Day 2 - Game Free

Guys if you don't mind I'll be sharing only what I believe is worth sharing, not every single detail of the day.For this reason i think most of my daily reports are going to be preety short.

Continued after a very long time reading a fantasy book.

Went out with friends,had a nice time there.  

I'm also making a goal list for the following 7 days. (Sunday to Saturday). So here we go :

-Go for a run 2-3 times.

-Draw something everyday (In fact I'll be posting a drawing each day here just to make sure that I follow up).

-Read something at night before bed time.

I'll add any new ideas that come in mind.

Gn everyone. 

 

Edited April 10, 2016 by Guest

[Cam Adair]

I don't think there's anything bad about reading the lore books if you don't find they are causing you to want to play.

[Guest]

Day 3 - Game Free

 

I'm quite happy with this day.Checked a few of the today's goal list boxes.And as promised(I have goal to draw everyday something) for this week I'll be posting a drawing each day.So this is the first one.

Gn!

Edited April 10, 2016 by Guest
Fixed image rotation

[Snw_bc]

Day 3 - Game Free

 

I'm quite happy with this day.Checked a few of the today's goal list boxes.And as promised(I have goal to draw everyday something) for this week I'll be posting a drawing each day.So this is the first one.

Gn!

looking good!

[Cam Adair]

Sweet drawing!

[WorkInProgress]

Drawings!

awesome!

[Guest]

Thanks for the responses everyone, helps a lot.

 

Day 4 - Game Free

 

Today was a little dissapointing because I had the time to do many things but spent most of my time internet browsing.So any ideas on how you deal with "nonsesne internet browsing" appreciated.Also I was feeling a lot sleepy today, and seriously I'm not sure why.

I'm not trying to advertise the book in any way, but I feel like I have to say this,some of the drawings I'll be posting are from a book called The Fundamentals of Drawing Landscapes by Barrington Barber.

By the way this is supposed to be a waterfall. 

Gn

[kortheo]

I don't think there's anything bad about reading the lore books if you don't find they are causing you to want to play.

I feel like throwing in my two cents on this one.

I agree that reading lore books is probably not that big of an issue. But in my case, I opted not to. I had a couple RPG-related lore books and chose to get rid of them when I quit gaming. I think when you quit it's best to fully close that chapter of your life and move on. If you keep reading gaming-related books, you keep yourself connected to those times in the past when you were gaming. You have reminders. It's kind of like keeping mementos or pictures of an ex that maybe you shouldn't be, or something along those lines. It's easier to move on from a break up when you don't have reminders sitting around everywhere.

Plus, specifically in this case, if you like fantasy books (I do) there are a ton of great, probably better written fantasy novels out there that you can dive into. Think of it as a way to scratch the same itch while also connecting to a new niche. You can check our r/fantasy or r/books and find people you can connect with over fantasy books without needing it to be connected to gaming.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

[Snw_bc]

 

Today was a little dissapointing because I had the time to do many things but spent most of my time internet browsing.So any ideas on how you deal with "nonsesne internet browsing" appreciated.Also I was feeling a lot sleepy today, and seriously I'm not sure why.

I'm not trying to advertise the book in any way, but I feel like I have to say this,some of the drawings I'll be posting are from a book called The Fundamentals of Drawing Landscapes by Barrington Barber.

By the way this is supposed to be a waterfall. 

Gn

All I can say is avoid the browser and if you really have to do anything with it just do exactly that, don't let your brain see anything interesting. It happened to me too today, I watched youtube vids for about 2 hours all on Donald trump hate. Feels like a waste of energy . Nice drawing by the way I will check that book out for sure!

[WorkInProgress]

I browsed a lot because it helped me to avoid gaming and avoid the things I had to do. There are two possibilitys either you browse to avoid things you fear. In this case you should stop it entirely for some time in my opinion. Or you haven't things to do and are just bored. In this case it isn't that dramatic to browse a bit( nothing gaming related though). Just try also to spend some time on  investigating new activities(and try them out!) which could take the place of it later on.

Here' a Cam video about the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn2YHgJlsOU

If you haven't read Name of the Wind from Patrick Rothfuss yet read it! Best fantasy book I read in ages(and I read a lot).

[Guest]

 

I don't think there's anything bad about reading the lore books if you don't find they are causing you to want to play.

I feel like throwing in my two cents on this one.

I agree that reading lore books is probably not that big of an issue. But in my case, I opted not to. I had a couple RPG-related lore books and chose to get rid of them when I quit gaming. I think when you quit it's best to fully close that chapter of your life and move on. If you keep reading gaming-related books, you keep yourself connected to those times in the past when you were gaming. You have reminders. It's kind of like keeping mementos or pictures of an ex that maybe you shouldn't be, or something along those lines. It's easier to move on from a break up when you don't have reminders sitting around everywhere.

Plus, specifically in this case, if you like fantasy books (I do) there are a ton of great, probably better written fantasy novels out there that you can dive into. Think of it as a way to scratch the same itch while also connecting to a new niche. You can check our r/fantasy or r/books and find people you can connect with over fantasy books without needing it to be connected to gaming.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

 

I see your point.It's just I'm not sure how I feel about this yet.But I do agree it's not worth the risk.

 

If you haven't read Name of the Wind from Patrick Rothfuss yet read it! Best fantasy book I read in ages(and I read a lot).

Will check it out for sure.Thanks for the tips, and the video link, that was really good actually.

So my thanks to Cam aswell.

 

Day 5 - Game Free

Today I realised that yesterday I didn't think about gaming all day, which is nice to realise.Did a little better job avoiding the internet and spent a lot of time outside.I haven't started my running task(go for 2-3 runs this week) yet ; ( , but doing good with the "read something before sleep instead of watching random videos" goal.Overall a good day.

 

For this one, I googled "toothless drawings" .

Gn everyone!

[Cam Adair]

You got talent! 

[Guest]

Day 6 - Game Free

Completed a book.Had some good time outside with friends.

I feel like I could have done way more for today.

Don't feel like sharing anything else.

More Dreamworks.This one I also found on google image search.

Bye!

[Guest]

Day 7 - Game Free 

So that was first week free.Definitely started feeling a lot differently, and started acting differently.I'm not any close to perfect obviously, but I'm more positive than I was last week,which is funny to realise because it isn't that long ago.

So Today I finally went for that run I had to,and this alone made my day.A quick update on our goal list(started day 3) :

-Go for a run 2-3 times. (1/2 or 3)

-Draw something everyday (In fact I'll be posting a drawing each day here just to make sure that I follow up). (5/7)

-Read something at night before bed time. (3/7)

I also feel like starting writing something, not sure what yet but I'll be trying it for the following weeks(hopefully).

For this one I got really creative on my research, I googled for "drawing" and this dude showed up.Found out that humans need some practise before starting to look natural.

Gn everyone,

Whoops not yet, got to start my writing progress.

[Cam Adair]

Remember this is a marathon not a sprint, so a little bit of improvement each day is what compounds over time into big results. You're doing great so far. 

[Guest]

Day 8 - Game Free

Nothing excited + I missed my drawing task.

Day 9 - Game Free

Spent most of day outside, which turns out that is not that good because I postponed a few things I had to do here.
This was the last day of my first weekly goal list.So this is what we scored :

-Go for a run 2-3 times. (1/2 or 3)

-Draw something everyday (In fact I'll be posting a drawing each day here just to make sure that I follow up). (6/7)

-Read something at night before bed time. (3/7)

I don't have the smartphone here and I can't take a picture of the today's drawing.

Also I won't be posting any more daily drawings here.I understand this is not the place to do that, but it really helped me to commit in a way.I will be moving to an art forum.

Before closing the day I think I'll do some writing, and think about a new goal list.

GN!

Edited April 18, 2016 by Guest
Uploaded the drawing 2 days later.

[WorkInProgress]

I enjoyed looking at your drawings. Feel free to keep posting them here.

Check Cam's latest video out. It gave me some insights about the reasons I failed my set goals.

[Cam Adair]

Hey Gresa, you can post your drawings here if you want, we'd love to see them

Art forum is also good.

[Guest]

Hey Gresa, you can post your drawings here if you want, we'd love to see them

Art forum is also good.

In this case, maybe I'll be posting like once or two per week here aswell.

Day 10 - Game Free

Because I spent most of day outside on day 9, I decided to stay home and do a few of the things I had to do there.Went quite well, but still I end a lot my days with the feeling, that I could have done more.Also worth mentioning again, I still find myself spending a lot of time wasting time browsing.

Day 11- Game Free

Continued a little my writing thing, still not sure what it is going to be though.Also found a Sherlock Holmes book on the library and I'm really tempted to start reading it. @WorkInProgress I did a little research on The Name of the Wind and read only good things about it,so I put it on my must-read books list.The best thing that happened today though, was that I went for running, followed by a few exercises a guy showed me how to do.

Gn!

Edited April 18, 2016 by Guest