Best week I can remember in a long time!

[WintergreenGrin]

Hi everyone,

I'm gonna try to keep this short and sweet. Earlier today I had a low point and ended up feeling sorry for myself for a while. I had been up for several hours and had gotten several different productive things done, and it was only 2 PM. I was bored and I sat there asking myself, "isn't this ridiculous? I'm an adult. I pay rent. I pay taxes. Hell, I have a freakin' accountant. I'm sitting here in my room bored out of my skull after doing a bunch of productive things. Can I really not have video games in my life?"

Well, I didn't play any games. Instead I took a nap and then went and practiced guitar. I ended up playing for a long while and I was really hitting it. I sounded good. The practice I've been putting in every day this past week has already started paying off. One of my roommates (the really quiet one, actually) even texted me to say I sounded good.

So that made my day, but then it got me thinking about my earlier conversation with myself. I was sitting there asking myself whether I could technically have video games in my life and still be productive. It occurred to me, just then, that the real question I should be asking is: "am I willing to trade video games for being REALLY good at guitar, in good shape, have lots of friends, speak multiple languages, etc?"

The answer is clearly "yes". I'm happy to trade video games for all of those things. This week I have been a productivity machine. I have been exercising and eating well. My pants are fitting better. I've been practicing guitar and piano daily, and getting better at both. I've been going outside and talking to people. I've been practicing Spanish (in which I am semi-fluent) and Mandarin (in which I am DEFINITELY not fluent).

I'm doing all this stuff and I still have time left over. Now I'm going to relax for a while and then maybe read or research something interesting.

Getting hung up on technicalities like "how much video game time can I fit into my life" or whatever is actually just a distraction, I think. The real question is what the hell do you want to DO with your life? Because I can almost guarantee that sitting there playing games isn't going to get you there. I don't think video games are the devil or anything, but I do think that we have to be responsible for how we choose to invest our time in life (note that I said INVEST our time, not SPEND our time). You get out of it what you put into it. I can't believe I wasted so many years of my life on games. With my level of discipline I could have mastered guitar and piano and learned three other languages by now. But that's in the past. I'm focused on the future.

Not playing games is like having magical time-warping abilities. I used to feel like there was no time in the day to get anything done. Now I can clearly see that the day is what you make of it. So I'm choosing to make better choices with how I invest my time, and I hope you do, too. I mean, will I EVER play a video game again? Probably. I could probably, technically, launch one of the hundreds of Steam games I own and play for an hour and then go do something else productive. But why? I could spend that hour working on one of the many things I've been putting off for months.

Well, I was gonna keep this short, but I guess I got carried away. I am just in AWE of what a difference cutting out the gaming makes. It's really unbelievable. I am going to be kicking life's ass up one side and down the other at this rate. It's very exciting!  I don't even feel bad for boasting a bit because I really am impressed with how well I've handed giving up gaming. I knew I had it in me, it was just a matter of starting. After that  you start to pick up momentum and it gets easier and more rewarding as time goes on!

[Simms]

Thanks for sharing, the change is day & night.

Congratulations. - So amazing how much one can accomplish by setting aside videogames.

[Cam Adair]

Well said!