AlexTheGrape

Today has been brilliant, it's been the best day I've had in ages! Why is that? I'm on my first day of my holiday in Australia! Despite a very early start to the day, I've spent some great time with my family and found it in me to fully relax since I finished my most important holiday work yesterday night. We spent a few hours at the Australia Zoo and I've taken many great photos with animals and with my family. I'll add some pictures of today. At the moment I'm not fussed about keeping any consistency in how I'm living the last of my holidays, as I am focusing on taking a break from tasks that require more cognitive effort than needed (simply relaxing). Damn your friends are pretty persistent! I am glad that it didn't weight you down to play or inspired you to binge gaming again. Awesome pics by the way. New Zealand is such a beautiful country! The grass is definitely greener on the other side of the world Thank you for your support! The gaming night hasn't shown any observable effects so far, but I still need to avoid watching games or being in much contact with gamers. Haha perhaps you should come over to have a look for yourself then! My camera is a Sony a270, I'm very lucky to have it I'm glad you appreciate them! I'll be sure to post more in the future. Thanks Cam! I take photos whenever I travel and I've had a few outings here and there solely for photography so I'd say it's a hobby.

Just a quick update: My holiday has been going well so far, and I've learned more about myself through reading and how I've encountered and resolve a range of problems. I'm now 1/4 through 'How to make friends and influence people' by Dale Carnegie, and it has provided me with great advice with how to handle people better. I have been applying some of the principles already, but it is actually a lot harder than I thought to not criticise anyone. The gaming nigh hosted by my brother has been and gone, and it went differently then I had initially planned. I was bought a copy of the game that they were going to play, and I was convinced to play with them 'one last time'. I played for 6-7 hours only, and to be honest I actually didn't enjoy gaming that much, so I'm glad it's lost its lustre now that I appreciate real things more. I now know that I can occasionally play certain video games with friends (that rely on us all being together for it to be fun), being what I'd consider a 'social video game'. Since then I've avoided playing video games on other occasions, and opted for more social activity or reading instead which have both been beneficial. My visualisation has been somewhat consistent, but not so with my exercising. I'm not ashamed of this in any way, as I've realised that I need a proper break these holidays and I can't be pushing myself out the door every morning to enjoy being able to rest. I'll upload a couple of photos I've taken a few days ago when I took a day to take photos with a couple of friends at Bethells Lake. It was wonderful to take the time to meet people and do something you share in common. I hope your day has gone well!

Congratulations! Hitting the 90 day mark is a great milestone, but hopefully it'll be the start of a more fulfilling life for you

Hi Bailey, welcome to the community! I'm 17, so there are some of us young ones in the community too. Perhaps look into what hobbies or activities you've enjoyed growing up, and derive an activity out of them. I believe Cam has made a video on finding hobbies, so check out his YouTube channel. I'm glad you're on board, and I hope to see you continue this journey in the long run

Post for yesterday: Day 109 Today I started my first session of a defensive driving course which will make me a safer driver and allow me to get my full licence earlier. It was very relaxed and I even met an old friend of mine there which made my day. I finished the mini posters to put on my wall to help me visualise in the morning and afternoon, and so far they've been very helpful. I'll add the pictures at the end of my post. I was still very relaxed with my time spending in the afternoon, and I didn't stick to my time plan I set for myself. I believe this has a lot to do with the environment; I was trying to work in my bedroom and so can get distracted very easily. A day later (now) I'm currently sitting in a library to post this, and the change of environment will be a big help for me. I had a think about where I'm going wrong with how I'm approaching my work and just going day to day. The problem is that I just didn't have the accountability I needed that I'd get from writing in a journal, and I wasn't properly energised for the day (I'm addressing this now by having a cold shower and I'll hopefully get more sleep tonight). Part of the problem could be that I'm trying to be super productive at the start of a holiday, immediately after burning myself out with school work, but I'll see how this goes. Meditation Done. Visualisation x2 Done, and done well! I am starting to feel how the emotional aspect to visualisation will help me in the future. Force fitness I had to do a 20 minute run at a comfortable pace, so I did exactly that. Python programming Didn't make time for it, yet again. Reading I didn't get that much reading done, so I'll need to improve on that. Practicing gratefulness Done, I did the standard of elaborating on three things I'm grateful for. Here are the 4 things I'm visualising. I have my own reasons for them, but by having them in a visual form I can then look to these on my wall to help in visualisation to remember the person I want to become and things I want to be able to do in the future.

Here's my post for yesterday: Day 108 Today I've set myself up for the future with concrete goals that are measurable and achievable. I'll post them up when I have finished my visual representation of them (something to print that I'm going to put on my wall). I had a very productive call with my accountability partner that lasted two and a half hours, we got ourselves some goals and things to visualise according to those goals. I'm now going to use an app called Force Fit, and it will provide me with the exercises to do during a day. These tend to be either a work out or a run, so I'll write what I've done accordingly. I got some of the habits done that I've set for myself, but I'll add the whole list anyways: Meditation Guided meditation, and was quite relaxing. Visualisation x2 Done briefly before going to bed, but I'm going to need to dedicate 2 minutes or so to the evening visualisation tomorrow. Morning run I had a quick morning run, and was surprisingly helpful despite being only about 10 minutes. I know that it didn't energise me for the duration of day I'd like though, the only way to do that would be to run harder and for longer. Work out I did a proper one in the afternoon, and skipped the chin-ups as I didn't want to get muddy (I use a tree outside for that). I'll wear shoes for workouts in the future so I can't back out of that one. Python programming Didn't make time for it, despite how much free time I had... Reading I read plenty today, reading a book to learn more about myself.

Day 107 So I said I have plans for the holidays, so I now have a list of things to do in the first week (I'm going to Australia in the second week). These include python programming for fun, for school work, and for a challenge (all consisting of different programming activities accordingly). I plan to continue with the 30 day Game Quitters challenge and hopefully finish it! I want to see a few friends of mine that I've made out of school, and maybe see if I can get involved with any community activities and take on a leadership role where possible. My brother is hosting a gaming night on Wednesday so I'll need to stay out of the house during that time. It's going to be difficult for me to do a karaoke night and host a dinner, considering that I don't cook and I'm under 18 (so I can't go to bars). If I apply myself though I'm sure I'll find a way around those obstacles. Today is a relaxing day, I'm in much need of a rest! Thanks Cam! I didn't know that me or my avatar is worthy of such praise

Day 106 I've just finished the last day of school for the term, so I'm now on holiday for 2 weeks! About a year ago this would mean binge gaming for a week at least, but I've got much better things to do with my time that I've got planned. Today I had a chemistry exam and a calculus test, so I'm glad that's all over. Tomorrow I'll post my plans for the holidays, I should be sleeping right now! Prepare yourself for the great list of helpful habits, they're coming back up tomorrow!

Thanks for the the link! I didn't know that 'keep on keeping on' resonated so much with you I'd never seen a Chapman stick, that was certainly a breath of fresh air in terms of music. Sounds like you've had a great day. Chess is a great game for the mind, but just be aware that it's not ok to be playing chess on a computer for long periods, as that can lead to gaming cravings. Have a great weekend dude!

Day 103 Today I was woken up very early by my phone from receiving a message, so I didn't have a great start to the day. I did a small run which helped to wake me up, but I'm just not feeling much motivation to be running full on. I think I'll need to do a number of things at the end of the week (start of two week holidays for me) including going through Respawn again, re-establishing my goals, and creating a daily routine for the holiday days. I've been trying to get myself to do lots of homework, but for some reason it's just not working. I think it has a lot to do with my current attitude towards my work (not so positive) and tiredness. I'll try to get as much sleep as possible tomorrow so that I can be fully refreshed. I've tried most of my different methods of doing work effectively, but I think their effectiveness largely comprises of how willing I am to work and how alert I am. Short posts this week, I've got tons of work of all sorts to catch up on because I missed 4 days of school.

Day 100 Today I've been at home trying to study and get homework done. I've missed four days of school due to going on the Defence Careers Experience and now need to work overtime to get all this done. I haven't been very successful in the afternoon, but I will be running tomorrow morning and getting up early so I'm hoping to have a long and productive day by simulating school day timings. The Defence Careers Experience I went on was brilliant, I got a good feel for what it's like to have a job in the Defence Force and I think a selection of jobs may really suit me. I made great friends in my syndicate of 10 people, and I have grown some of my skills that'll really help in future. I received a top notch report for all aspects of the experience (being fitness, teamwork, leadership, and attitude), and was told that I am a great leader when I put my mind to it. I now have greater confidence in my leadership skills and I wish to put those skills to the test soon so I can develop further. I need to improve on keeping active and keeping positive I think. Otherwise all is well for now. It's been a hundred days, I should be celebrating but at the moment I just don't have much time on my hands and I'm not involving myself in many engaging activities, so I need to work on that. Here's syndicate 5: G-Squad!

I've now finished a 90 Day Detox completion post, so please take a look if you'd like to learn a few things from me: http://forum.gamequitters.com/topic/220-quit-for-90-days/?page=2

Alright, I've finally decided to get this 90 Day Detox post down, I've been procrastinating as I have an expectation of myself to write a lot for this since I've relapsed twice. I hope you enjoy my story! On my third detox attempt, I have finished 90 days without gaming! I've gone 90 days without gaming, but as of Tuesday (when I hit 90 days) it's been 176 days since I officially quit gaming in the Game Quitters Community. I'm proud of myself for having persevered through this, and I thank everybody that's helped me along the way. It's been a long journey for me, and very difficult at times. It's not over yet, but I've come a long way since I started and the ride should be a lot easier from here. I've relapsed twice whilst trying to do the detox, and I've learned key lessons from these experiences. The advice below may not be the most original, but I did my best to avoid regurgitating the same information that other 90-day finishers. Here are the most important things I've learnt from my time quitting: Avoid triggers. To get through quitting gaming successfully, I had to not play video games. To not play video games, I needed to minimise the amount of time spent being 'triggered', being prompted to think of my time gaming, as having video games played in the house by other people convinced me of how fun and worthwhile gaming could be (ending up in relapse both times). Not being reminded of the virtual rewards gaming provides is paramount to moving on from them, so it is important to minimise the ways you can be triggered by not associating yourself with any gaming related activities wherever possible. Closure to gaming has to be self-initiated. If you haven't found closure to gaming in the past, you're very unlikely to find closure to gaming in the future by playing. This means that as long as gaming fulfills some of your needs such as the need for accomplishment, social interaction, a temporary escape, a challenge, and/or a sense of purpose, there always be that 'one last game' you want to play or 'one last thing' you want to accomplish in a video game. I've found I craved gaming when those needs weren't being met, and that I couldn't find closure to gaming by gaining virtual rewards as my needs would only be fulfilled temporarily. If you want to find closure to gaming and you just can't play in moderation, perhaps you need to just fresh without gaming, but to also find activities that fulfill those needs that gaming did. Be intentional about new activities. To get through quitting gaming successfully, I had to not play video games. But get through to an improved life that I wanted, I needed to involve myself in new, engaging activities, and be intentional about how I do them (I am still needing to work on this one!). When I hadn't been intentionally doing a handful of activities that together provided engagement, provided social opportunity, provided rest from daily activities, and developed a sense of accomplishment or growth, I fell into the dark well of using gaming to fulfill those needs. It took a lot of courage to get back out and start over, I learned that I need to take my needs seriously and take steps towards making sure they are fulfilled in positive and productive ways. Acknowledge how you have viewed gaming in the past, and the need to move on. Before I could quit in the long term, I needed to fully acknowledge what gaming had meant to me in the past and the reasons for and against playing them. I only had a good sit down to say goodbye to my games in my third attempt at quitting, and it was a very emotional experience. I put on a sad song from one of my old games (this helped emphasize the isolation gaming has caused me) whilst I thought about my previous times gaming. I looked back and relished the time I spent growing up with gaming as the pinnacle of enjoyment, excitement, and friendship with my twin brother in my life (gaming was a way of bonding together), and acknowledged that it had been a significant part of my identity and that gaming meant a lot to me. I then moved on to reflect on how that had changed over the years and why I needed to move on to make the most of my adult life. I cried, and it was an important ritual or 'rite-of-passage' type of activity I needed to get my head around to fully accept and acknowledge the implications of quitting gaming. Consistent journal posting is key for accountability aids long term success. Posting in an online journal is both an important opportunity and obligation. Doing so has helped to keep me accountable for making positive change consistently in my life, and although it may seem like an obligation, is paramount to improving consistently. Through keeping a journal I've been able to implement daily habits to help me get through the day with flying colours, keeping motivated, working productively, and enjoying my day more. On the days I haven't been journalling, I noticeably slacken off and under-perform in many areas of my life. It's connected me with many people in the community and enabled me to receive much-needed support to continue my journey and provide the same help to others. Energise our body to make the most of your day. Exercising daily is a physical motivator. Although it may be difficult in the morning to get out of bed and do exercise (I still struggle to be consistent with this), exercising daily energises your body to function fully and allows you to live the day in the fullest. It is the equivalent of getting a car an oil change and replacing its tyres, it will run much smoother and more reliably. Running most mornings wakes my body up and helps me to work and think well in the early hours of day, has helped lighten my mood significantly, and generally has kept me more active throughout the day. The days I haven't run, I notice a lack of motivation to do anything difficult and feel much lazier in comparison, which highlights the importance of keeping your body active. I have plenty of other advice for anybody who needs it, but those are the most important ones that come to my mind at this time. I hope my advice has helped you, the reader, and I wish you have a wonderful day! Thank you to all the people that have helped me along this journey so far, I am very appreciative of your inspiration that has supported me throughout my journey quitting.

Day 94 Not posting has certainly taken its toll; I haven't reflected much on how my past few days have been going and as a result haven't made much progress in general. Without posting and the reminder of doing those daily habits, I ended up doing practically none! Certainly room for improvement. Today I had a 2 hour with my accountability partner, and unfortunately he's relapsed. Despite going through my recorded notes on his reasons for quitting, his goals and aspirations, and how he can change his life for the better, he was still keen on having a relapse. I've done all I can for now, but I'm still going to be around to check up on him and still be accountability partners. I was instructed to not do any exercise today by my step-father because I'd be going on the military experience tomorrow, but this hasn't worked out for me. Not exercising in the morning has resulted in me being very drowsy and unmotivated to do anything, which highlights my need to exercise every morning, whether I'm at school or not. At the end of the day, I felt exhausted, despite having not done much work or anything particularly difficult. I had a lie down to figure out why this was, and realised that I have felt the same for the past couple of days. I realised that I was anxious from not knowing much about the 4-day military experience I'm going on (they don't tell us much other than they're not responsible for injuries), and has led to me being stressed thoughout the past couple of days. Upon reflection I think all I needed was some good old meditation, as it would have cleared my mind of non-useful or impractical thoughts that have been causing me grief. I'll probably kick myself mentally tomorrow if don't meditate in the morning. On the brighter side, seeing somebody relapse reminds me of why I quit in the first place; hearing of a desire to live in a virtual world makes me cringe. I once loved the virtual world for all the engagement and amazement it has to offer So tomorrow I'll be going on a military experience for 4 days, and I'm going to challenge myself to be the best I can be, whilst doing my best to make friends. I've just had a look at my (still on-hold) 30 day challenge, and I'm just going through some challenges I've done already. I think I'll focus on the social side of things, and try to make at least 5 friends each day I'm on the trip; there will be 80 students there so I can't get stuck with this. After doing some thinking and searching, I've decided that I'll challenge myself to make those 5+ friends per day (if possible), and also get 5 people's details to invite them for a dinner party. That's all for today, and I'll be next posting after my trip, so peace out!

I fucking love your new avatar. What a badass you are haha. Can't wait to meet you in person someday. I can't wait to meet you in person as well! Meeting you on 'equal terms' (having done great things in my own life) is one of my things I visualise for inspiration Which brings me to my advice for @gankylosaurus: Visualisation is a powerful tool for driving you in the long term. Visualising the person I wanted to become (being more social, successful, and positive) was a crucial activity I needed to undertake to inspire myself to continue the game quitting path, especially when times got tough. What do you want your future to look like? There's a good place to start for finding something to visualise. If YouTube gaming channels trigger you, perhaps it wouldn't be a good idea to still watch them. Watching my brother play video games (equivalent to gaming channels) was a key factor contributing to my relapses, so tread carefully. Good on you for such big, reflective posts, just make sure it doesn't become a burden to write too much.

Welcome back to the community! I'm glad you're taking this so seriously and so willing to get through this; just make sure you can maintain this attitude in the long run! All the best for your recovery man!

Make sure to keep us posted on how or if you're achieving your goals! I'm interested to know what your plan is, let us know ASAP so we can keep you accountable. Best of luck for figuring out what is right for you.

Make sure to keep us posted on how or if you're achieving your goals!

Hi Tom, thank you for being such a great inspiration! Congratulations on making it through adversity and becoming a better person through quitting gaming. Thank you for your invaluable support and I wish the best for you and your families future. Peace!

Day 92 Just a short post today, I want to get to bed earlier. Thanks for the GIF @Cam Adair, that was pretty funny. I wasn't able to maintain my 'on fire' approach like yesterday, likely because I didn't get too much sleep; I'm going to bed much earlier tonight to remedy that. I'm pretty much all packed for my military camp experience starting on Monday, I'm pretty pumped! Today I went to the Python Programming club weekly session and it went very well, there was a very small turnout with only three of us there, so I got some good advice and time with my friend running the club. I didn't manage to get too much work this afternoon and didn't make time for a workout, so I'm not letting myself slip again tomorrow.

Day 91 Today I've been on fire! Not literally, but I've been abnormally active, alert, and engaged today for no apparent reason. I think it might be to do with my confidence derived from doing well in programming recently, as I've gotten ahead with my computer science work and python programming practice. Anyhow I'm glad that I've had a great day, and I hope to maintain the same energy level and attitude tomorrow. I seem to have crashed this afternoon though, I got next to no homework done, but I got home rather late anyhow. Tomorrow I'll make sure to remove all possible distractions from my desk, they played a large part in me not doing my work. I'm finding little time to squeeze in writing a gratefulness letter, but it should really only take 10 minutes. I'll incorporate it into my night-time schedule. Meditation Didn't make time for it this morning, but I'll address that tomorrow. Visualisation Nope. Morning run I had fencing this afternoon so I'd consider myself exercised. Work out Nope. Cold shower Yep. Gratefulness letter Nope. I've got a list of people Python programming I made a few slight adjustments to the current program I'm making, but nothing major. Penpal letter/email Didn't make time for it today. Reading Done.

90 Day Detox Attempt III Day 90 Today I've completed a great milestone in my journey to improving my lifestyle. My 90 day detox is over, but my journey to becoming the person I want to be has only just begun. It's been a long journey for me, having made it on my 3rd detox attempt. I'll write a proper post to reflect on my journey when I find the time, hopefully tomorrow or definitely in the next few days. I wasn't as productive yesterday, listening to music whilst trying to learn new things just doesn't work when focus is needed. On the bright side I got a good deal of python programming learning done, it was great to do some good old pure programming to solve practice problems, unlike the GUI work I've been doing recently. Meditation Done. Visualisation Nope. I'm going to go through Respawn again tonight (and will count as my reading the next few days) to get my personal goals sorted out. Morning run Done! I made sure to keep a good pace today, and it paid off. Work out All done! Cold shower Yep. Gratefulness letter Nope. I will write a list of people to thank so that this process is a lot easier and quicker. Python programming I programmed a GUI for flash-card memorisation from scratch, and it was actually engaging and somewhat fun! Programming is surely one of the activities I should do more of, it is very beneficial to me and I find it fun. Penpal letter/email Done. Reading Done Reflection Today has been alright in general, I didn't get as much done as I'd have liked but it wasn't a bad day in the least. I think I might skip reflection in future posts as I already reflect on my day in more detail through the other headings and the start of the post. 3 Things I'm grateful for: I'm grateful for my Easter chocolate I still haven't exhausted yet. I'm grateful for blu-tac. I'm grateful for having such a well-bahaved dog. One amazing thing that happened today: I'd have to say that programming was again a highlight of the day, I used some of my older knowledge and worked speedy. Programming to find solutions to practice questions and to meet specifications really helps with providing purpose to what I'm doing in a good way. What I could have done to make my day better: I could have planned my day better, perhaps designating working and break times so that the work I do in those times will be flexible. What I will do differently tomorrow: I will write designated times to do work, making these times on the way home from school.

I'm glad walking helped brighten your mood, sounds like your accountability partner gave you some good advice Most people (including myself) only believe somebody is 'for real' with making a big change when they act on it, so don't beat yourself up about how those people treated you. When you start brightening up and moving forward in life, they'll rethink how they approach you Keep it up man you're doing great!

Sounds like you've had a great day I wouldn't say that video was inspirational, but it certainly was funny!

Looks like you're on the right track, man! Finding other activities to fill my time with like programming can really be a help to keep the cravings at bay and help you find interests in other areas.