jakey

Awesome day #1. Consistence really helps with the journaling. Write everyday if you can. Even if it's only one sentence. If you want ideas for templates look at other peoples journals. I started including 3 good things that happened that day which has really helped with shifting my mindset. But these are just suggestions. Do whatever works best for you

Welcome to the community. I'm super happy you're here. I noticed you started journaling great job!

Welcome Moe! Remember to congratulate your self on victories. It took a lot of guts to post that!

Welcome Vincent! I hope you find the forum helpful. Poke around and read other peoples stories in the journal section may give some insight. Maybe there is something else in common you have with this friend that you could do instead. When I quit I lost most of my friends. The ones that I stated friends with didn't understand what I was going through but chose to respect my decision. It may be beneficial to explain to your friend why you struggle with gaming and that it doesn't reflect on them or there experience with gaming. Unfortunately in life sometimes growing requires leaving people behind. The good new is you can always grow new relationships. Hope you figure it out man.

Welcome! So glad you've decided to join our community. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help you. We are so much stronger when we work together. How did you get into gaming and other habits?

4/29/2017 Day's without gaming: 90!!!!! I haven't posted in awhile so I thought I would update since it is day 90. I've started keeping a personal paper journal for the past two weeks. I have also gotten into therapy. It's been nice to have some who can give me an objective outlook. I know my friends and family care but they have there own agenda when they offer advice. I have been consistent with the gym. I'm finally noticing physical differences to my body in the mirror. I have been attending yoga for a month now and have really enjoyed the quiet it creates for me. I've made a few friends through yoga who are positive healthy people. I finally decided to give Toast Masters a go. I've been to three meetings so far and love it. I just payed my dues last week and should do my first speech in two weeks or so. I made a new friend through there who is also trying to change his life for the better. He is in a similar space as I am where he has made bad choices and wasted time in the past with negativity and is looking to progress in life. I've also decided to quit pornography as I think that will greatly contribute to my health and my ability to form intimate relationships with women. I'm doing a 90 day detox with masturbation to help me quit porn which I am 29 days into. I tried to join an online class for web design to wet my feet in online classes. It was really difficult for me and I dropped out and got a refund because I couldn't handle the pressure. After that experience I don't think going back to school for me is the best option at this time. I think I need to find a better paying non-degree job for the time being. I think that if I'm going to work a job I don't really love but just to get me to where I am going to go. I should at least pick something that is going to teach me new skills. While Starbucks has been fun these past four months I think I've learned all there really is to know there. It has definitely helped with my people skills but I think it's time to move onto something more technical. I figure that even if I get a job that pays the same if it's teaching me new skills it's worth the effort of changing jobs. My current idea is a entry level help desk IT position as I've already done some of that type of stuff in the past. If any one has any job ideas let me know. I am grateful for: 1. Texas Barbecue 2. A bed 3. Clothes and a home Good things that happened to me today: 1. Spent sometime soul searching and realized some truths about myself. 2. Spent time with an old friend and ate good barbecue. 3. Hung out with my sister and her new dog.

Great job man! You're an inspiration to the rest of us!

@Ed I went tonight. It was really awesome man. Thanks for psyching me up for it. I'm definitely going back again next week.

Hey man stay strong. The truth is if someone doesn't have the addiction they are going to have a hard time relating to your struggle. Good job getting out of a tempting environment. Coming on the forum and reaching out to others here is a great way to keep your stance strong. Something that may help is posting on the accountability partners page and see if you can find someone to text. When I found a partner it made the first few weeks a lot easier.

Welcome to the community!

@Ed Alright I had to look through a bunch but I finally found one that works with my schedule. Fun enough they have there next meeting tomorrow night! It's like fate or something. Thank you for the encouragement!

I guess I've watched a lot of videos on the subject but there usually very general. For me I need something more specific and concrete. Like what are the actual steps I need to take in order to be more confident? Anything about your experience with gaining confidence or any challenges I could do that would help me grow that area.

How to build confidence?

Thanks Ed! I definitely will now. I'll have to do some research to find one that works with my work schedule though as the ones near me are at noon. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks again for a great response.

If you need to use your computer for something try and use it in a different location than your home. Like a coffee shop or library. That really helped me in the beginning.

Hey Brad welcome to the community! I relate to so much of what you have said. Especially the part about not having as much life experience as other people my age. The awesome news is just by posting this you've taken another step in the right direction! Seems like you have a lot of stuff going on in your head. I recommend starting your journal right now. It was a beg help to me in the beginning. Do you have any other hobbies besides going to the gym? Also have you uninstalled all the games from your computer yet?

Now that I've kind of locked in fitness as a hobby I feel like its time to add something new. I'm interested in toastmasters but it's really outside of my comfort zone. I'm scared of going to a meeting where I don't know anyone. I was wondering if any one has been a part of toastmasters before. Could you share your experience?

4/6/2017 Day's without gaming: 67 Over two months! The guy I met internship opportunity didn't work out. I work for Starbucks and they have free college tuition through ASU Online. I finished all the paperwork yesterday. I signed up for an advising appointment for Tuesday afternoon. I will be able to register for class starting in June once I speak with my advisor. Working out has been going really well. It's the one thing in my life I have control over. It's really helped me get this far. I need more activities I'm thinking about checking out toastmaster. I am grateful for: 1. Protein Shakes 2. Chicken 3. Having a job Good things that happened to me today: 1. Pushed my self to failure on my bench press for the first time 2. Spent some quality time with my mother. 3. Saw a friend from out of town I haven't seen in a few months. Coding progress: Enrolled in a new web design class through codecademy because I've been really stuck on the webpage design aspects of my front end certification.

For me shame came from telling people I wanted to quit and not being able to do so. When they found me playing games it was enforcing the fact that I was powerless of the gaming.

Welcome to the community friend!

3/18/2017 Day's without gaming: 48 I'm over halfway to 90 days!!!!! I've been journalism less as things are much easier now. I've been working a lot more and studying. I ran into someone in a cigar shop today who is actually looking for an intern for a non profit doing developer work. So I might be able to get some work experience if I can land that. I'm always so thirsty I need to drink more water. Drinking more water is going to be a focus of next week. I am grateful for: 1. The gym 2. My family 3. Good music Good things that happened to me today: 1. Spent the day in a cigar lounge with an old friend. 2. Meet someone who works in the industry and could have an internship for me. 3. Ate some awesome shrimp tacos. Coding progress: Finished intermediate algorithm section. Decided to start working on the back-end certification Began learning git.

In case anyone reading this is wondering what my workout program consists of this is the link: Click Me

3/14/2017 Day's without gaming: 44 Had an awesome workout this morning and managed to stay under calories for the day. Spent time with an old friend who is home for spring break. I hadn't seen him in awhile it was good catching up. He is a big gamer so I had to turn down an offer to play with him. I explained that I was quitting for good this time. He said he dosen't really understand it but he can respect it. Which was honestly really nice to here. He's a really good friend and I was worried about telling him that as I didn't want it to get between us. Luckliy we have other shared interests aside from gaming. I am grateful for: 1. Shoes 2. Having aspirations 3. Exercise Good things that happened to me today: 1. I didn't have work today so I went to the gym during an off time and no one was there. 2. Meet up with my friend for dinner and sat around a fire in his backyard catching up for 4 hours. 3. Found out the workout program I'm doing has an app. Used it today it definitely streamlined my workout. Coding progress: Finished another algorithm challenge. I am one away from finishing the intermediate algorithm scripting section which is the half way point of the certification.

3/10/2017 Day's without gaming: 40 Good day today. I have been having sleep problems the past few weeks and when to the doctor on Monday. She gave me some medicine to help me sleep. Nice to finally have a full nights sleep. This mornings workout went well. My first time completing an entire workout from my program by myself. In the past I only did one or two exercises as practice. Getting back on the ball havent done much programming this past week. Rewrote my plan for completing things. Talked to my dad about moving to Denver in a few months. I've also been looking into coding schools. I would like to start applying for work once I finish my certification in April. I am grateful for: 1. Family 2. Water 3. Exercise Good things that happened to me today: 1. I ate some awesome noodles from Panda Express. 2. Had some free croissants from work this morning. 3. Got a lot coding challenges done. Coding progress: Finished 2 algorithms today.

Thanks Cam I'll let you know. It depends on how my first round of applications pan out.