April 18-19 Gratitude: ~ Slept for as long as I felt necessary, - though I really do crave good-spirited action - and went to the local gym for a decent attempt ~ The weather was great, and if I had stronger connections with everyone I would have gone out immediately ~ This morning's oatmeal ~ Reading first-thing in the day and last-thing at night, which actually felt like a replacement for games and not avoidance _____________ I have so many questions, and have had so many more desires to just argue and fervently 'correct' things said and done by family and peers. I gave in to basically none at all, but had one of those almost-downward-spiralling 2-hour calls with a more experienced guy from the men's group. That tired me out, and tonight's Friday event to me was kind of unlikely to go well after getting through yesterday, so I came online here for a bit. My concern today has been the kind of zen mode that I found myself indulging in while reading and sleeping, window(s) open, that I think a a large number of my family usually reverts to. When we get to doing things, I feel like we're all just taints on each others' consciousness, and should be alone unless we've got a LOT of good energy stored up, or if there is something seriously imperative.  Now that even before this latest setting aside of games, I've not really valued the gameplay and interactions for what they were, as I did 10-15 years ago as a teenager. The physical world and everyone in it is once again quite real to me, and if I truly begin to engage with it naturally too soon, I could run into real trouble. I don't know how best to communicate this to most of the people in my life. A little while ago, when I was getting sick of my old working role, my dad told me that after so many years, I had effectively trained my boss like a seal to expect my full attention, efforts and punctuality. However, he, my friends and my family haven't completely understood the changes I've been going through over the past 2-3 years, just as they probably didn't understand how addicted I really became when I got my first gameboy and Pokemon, before moving to consoles and finally, the computer for a very long time now. My dad praised my patience yesterday without acknowledging or confessing what we both probably understood warranted that patience. So I'll continue to make use of that, at the very least. I might come back to edit a little bit, but for now - peace ~ Matt  

11th April - 18th April: My girlfriend and I went to a puppet theatre last week. It was an adaptation of Orwell's Animal Farm. We enjoyed it a lot 😄 We spent Friday evening with friends. At the weekend, we also visited both my and her parents. I also had to change the wheels with winter tires for summer ones that are at my parents' house. We also cycled a bit and went to the cinema to watch a documentary. My PC table arrived on Monday, though I can't assemble it fully without a drill. I had the CELTA interview on Tuesday and it went well. That means I should spend July trying to become a better teacher 🙂 Worked on my taxes on Wednesday. I also visited the speakers' club and attended a birthday party, so it was a good day. I fixed charging troubles I had been having with my phone yesterday. Busy week overall, but nice.

Entry 18.04 (Written on 19.04) Day 567: No Useless Videos Day 565: Sticking to Food schedule Day 169: Eating Only between 06:30 and 19:00 (Last bite before 19:00) Day 159: Being in bed before 23:15 3 Things I did right, no matter how small. -Trying the new pitch template and managing to do 9 sales in 6 hrs (New record. The previous - 8, awesome!) -Once more the bike kept doing noises on Wednesday and thuersday even after the pro looked at it so I've gone there again, this time leaving it there. -about 23 hours fast 1 Thing I could do better -I was wondering a bit too much after the conversation with management. could have finished my two other tasks and possibly closed another sale to complete to 10

looking through past entries, i notice that my quitting of games was not immediate- i held onto gameplay videos for awhile, and did fill my time w/ other poor habits. it was not until beginning of 2021 when i was able to quit fully.  i need to maintain the needs that pornography is currently fullfilling in some way- the issue being, i do not understand what those needs are. pornography desire comes up when i am very stressed and/or very tired.  perhaps, it simply the need to rest (especially my mind, less so my body). i should respect that- my workaholic-ness is what drives me to this level of exhaustion. i need to respect my own boundaries- and here we go, back to self-compassion. will dedicate the last 30mins of this day to learning more on self-compassion, then.

When the video told me to delete my accounts and video games, it felt like a punch in the gut. a piece of me I have to cut off. It felt like orders, it had to be done, for my self and future. I was already feeling restless, trying to figure out what to do. Jittery, my mind was pacing, frantic for something, ANYTHING. I couldn't stop thinking. The next thing I did was go to my bed and pass out. After waking up, the thought's of video games didn't go away but at least I was able to find out a way to silence that part of my brain. I know what I had to do. I continued to the next module and learned about making new hobbies. My mind still feels a fuzzy attraction to video games but I always remind myself, that is who I don't want to be anymore. the sleepless nights, the lost time, added stress, low-grade depression and self-isolation. All that felt terrible. I don't want to go through that, not again, not ever because of video games. I hope these hobbies will make me a better person.