Starting Over With A Fresh (Real) Life

[RedRockets]

Hello all! Call me Red; I'm a gaming addict from the state of Oregon in the US. 

This year I'll be 34 years old, so that means I've spent nearly 30 years playing video games. 3 decades. For the past 7 years I've been using gaming unhealthily to escape from my difficulties in life, and eventually that meant I missed out on life itself, apart from the necessities of adulthood. It's been difficult for me to arrive at this point as I also self-medicated depression and anxiety with gaming accomplishments and activities, so cutting it out has been like cutting out my purpose for life. 

Today, I am proud to say I've been over 30 days without playing a single game, but it's a long road yet as I'm just now living my life with both eyes wide open and not jacked into a pixelated fantasy. 

Goals:

1. Pick up any of the instruments I used to play in college and start playing.
2. Expand my developer toolset and knowledge. 
3. Go back to school and further my education. 
4. Get physically fit. 

Edited March 15, 2017 by RedRockets
giant wall of text crits readers for over 9000

[KDY]

Welcome aboard!  People like you are an inspiration to me -- I don't suppose I gamed as heavily as you or many others, but definitely went into a long dive over the past 3 - 4 years where every irritation was solved by heading for the keyboard & mouse.  For me the key sign that I was addicted was that once started, I couldn't stop.  10 or 20 minutes of "relaxing" or "skill-building" games invariably ended 4, 5 or 7 hours later when I was falling down from exhaustion.

Needless to say, my sleep cycle ceased to exist, I gained more weight than ever before in my life, I lost interest in things like gardening that used to be a real joy, etc. etc.  I quit gaming on March 08 (2017).

The one thing I think that tripped me up in my earlier attempts to quit gaming:  I filled the time with more activities -- didn't dawn on me until I went through the Respawn stuff, that I had never designed an activity that was genuinely restful (except for reading).  That one-trick pony just wasn't enough to keep me away from the keyboards.  So I seem to be going back to writing poetry.  Might try to put to use a pretty expensive drawing course that I took about 5 years ago.

On top of gaming, I was/am addicted to my other drug of choice -- exhaustion.  So a word of caution:  rest.

Marcus Aurelius put it this way nearly 2 millenia ago:

Do the things external which fall upon thee distract thee? Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around. But then thou must also avoid being carried about the other way. For those too are triflers who have wearied themselves in life by their activity, and yet have no object to which to direct every movement, and, in a word, all their thoughts. [Meditations, Book 2, Med. 5]

Hang in there . . . .PS what instruments did you play?

 

 

[Cam Adair]

Congrats on 30 days so far - that's a really incredible accomplishment after gaming for the past 30 years! 

[Schwing]

Never too late to change!

How will you accomplish your goals? Start a journal and track your progress. I will be sure to check in on you.

[destoroyah]

Getting physically fit is one of the best cornerstones you can set in life!

Best wishes!

[KevinV1990]

Congrats on the 30 days! It also is a good things that you have set your goals, since it gives you something to work for.

Getting physically fit is one of the best cornerstones you can set in life!

Best wishes!

I think that working out is probably one of the best ways to help you get rid of your gaming addiction. You will notice yourself getting better at it every day, even though it can hurt sometimes (dealing with that now ). In that way it has much similarities with getting better at gaming, but working out is a healthier thing to do.