seriousjay

Sounds like a fantastic weekend! The act of deleting your games and save files I see more as a statement of intent. By physically going through those motions you are making a declaration that you are done with those things and are moving on to something else. Maybe you don't feel the need to do this, but for some, like myself, it's a necessary step to move on. Keep in mind also that it isn't the actual games themselves you are attached to. It is the save files, the time spent playing them, the memories, etc. You are right that it's easy enough to reinstall the games, but not so easy to bring back all that lost progress. I would strongly recommend that you at least delete all of your save files. Knowing that they're there can be a very powerful temptation that leads you back to video games. I get that you feel strong now but from my own personal experience, that feeling doesn't last very long. Sooner or later you need to continue this journey by the strength of your commitment, not adrenaline or what have you. Hope that helps!

Thanks Cam I'll definitely check it out! Just wanted to post here to say I ran into my first minor setback last night. I went on a 2 hour hike just before and had to do some stuff at work right after, on top of not having slept too well the night before, so none of that was helping my willpower at the time. I caved and had 2 servings of a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. One serving is 410 cals and it's basically just all sugar. I justified it by saying I had room in my calorie budget for it, and I had already worked so hard that day so I deserved a reward. This was bad for a number of reasons. I believe I read that the sugar crash actually disrupts your ability to go into deep REM sleep. On top of these being almost completely empty calories. I should have had a protein shake to help with my recovery and called it a night. On top of all that, this experience is likely going to make it harder to say no the next time. I will need to be very mindful about any further cravings and temptations in the near future. Oh well. Just learn from it is all I can do at this point. We all stumble and make mistakes so I'm not going to beat myself up over it.. although I really wanted to. On a somewhat related note, I've read also that your emotional state can actually affect your digestion as well. Whether that's true or not, I can't allow myself to get too down about anything. Instead of getting distraught over a situation, just calmly approach things with an objective mind and ask questions. I believe constantly getting down and beating myself up is going to eventually lead me back to my previous way of life, and I can't allow that to happen. Anyway, looking forward to a great day of recovery! I've worked very hard the last week or so and today I intend to reward myself by allowing myself to do literally NOTHING if I want to!

This would be day 11. Last night I came to a stark realization of just how much video games influence how we think through prolonged exposure. I went to volleyball with Katrina and her friends and afterwards I had a conversation with her about whatever. Right after we parted ways I immediately started feeling like the whole night and conversation was a dismal failure from a social standpoint. Part of that was me feeling like maybe she wasn't that into me (which after objectively analyzing what happened was a ridiculous conclusion), but mostly that I felt like I had made no progress whatsoever in becoming better in social situations. Here I was, just over a week after giving up almost everything that I identified with, starting with basically nothing, and having this idea that I should be some kind of social master after going out with people a grand total of 4 times after having next to no exposure to people I didn't already know for at least 3 years. The instant gratification and rewards that we grow so accustomed to while playing video games might be the single most destructive part of them, and quite possibly the biggest reason for people failing quitting video games. Obviously after an objective analysis, I realized that nothing really bad happened and this is all just part of the process. Maybe one thing I've come to realize is that I spend a proportionately small amount of time on improving my social skills compared to how much I spend on health and fitness. I'm not quite sure yet if that needs to be adjusted, mainly because health and fitness is very accessible and social situations have a bit higher of a barrier of entry. I think I'll just continue as I am for now and revisit this a little later.

This is something that I have come to experience recently, and have acknowledged for a very long time. Bottom line is, people that get to know you through things like video games typically won't miss you, or may not even remember you if you lose contact for while. Some even get angry if you tell them you don't want to be their friend anymore or something like that because you're trying to distance yourself from the source of the friendship. This is compounded greatly if you don't actually ever meet the person, and there are many "friendships" that develop online. The opposite of that is what I experienced with two people recently. The first, who I first met 3 years ago, simply remembered me and sent me a message over Meetup, despite having only met me once. The second, who I actually met a few times during the course of my previous attempt at quitting games, and who I established a meaningful connection with, totally remembered who I was and what we did before when I messaged her on Meetup. The point is that connections that are built on something with substance actually matter and are meaningful to the people involved in those connections. Through this type of bonding, it strengthens all of us and gives us extra motivation to keep up good habits in our lives. Finding these types of connections is something I am actively working on as I continue my journey through real life and I strongly encourage you to muster up the courage to seek them out yourself. You might be amazed at how much it can help just knowing you have non-family members that actually care about you in your life. --- You can try reading The Willpower Instinct. I've only gone through chapter 1 myself but it actually goes through the science of willpower and things we can do to actually strengthen it. According to the book, willpower isn't some kind of mystical force that we somehow just have, but an actual brain function that, thankfully, can be practiced and strengthened. This might help you to start doing the things that you know you need to do but don't necessarily want to. --- Last thought, don't be discouraged by relapses. Myself, I've attempted to quit video games I think 4 or 5 times now, maybe even more.. I've honestly lost track. The important thing is, never give up on yourself or the process. Each time you muster up the courage to delete those games once again, you'll have gained skills from your previous attempts to help you along the way in your subsequent attempts. You'll have found things that work and don't work and can optimize how you go about distancing yourself from video games that sets you up for success. Cheers brother and good luck!

What would you guys recommend as the best free meditation app? I knew it was important before but after reading chapter 1 of The Willpower Instinct, I've come to realize that meditation is pretty much a requirement for anyone who doesn't want to constantly be controlled by their impulses.

Woohoo, I found my first geocache today! With some help from a random person that showed up.. LOL!

OK.. so if August 5th, 2018 marks the first day of reinventing my life, this would be day 9. I wasn't going to track the days but given the recommended "detox" period is 90 days, I will be tracking until at least that point. It's also nice to actually see the milestones instead of just having them in my head, and makes it easier to track progress. So I re-read the guide to quitting games for a year and I think it's time that I started putting into action the recommendation to live life with intention. Today I am going to focus on exactly what I want out of life, right now. As an aside to this, I need to start putting more importance on what *I* want, not what society or family expects of me. Part of my problem before was that I was trying to become someone, instead of doing what brings me joy and fulfillment and allowing those experiences to shape who I become. This changes today. I've identified 5 major areas to focus on, in order of importance: 1. health and fitness 2. social activities 3. friendships and romance 4. outdoor activities 5. personal development Here are the reasons why these things are important to me and what I will be doing to make progress in them: 1. Staying healthy is honestly just an automatic thing. I cannot fathom why anyone wouldn't be putting as much effort as they can spare into eating right and staying active. Science has proven that this is the most effective way to prolong the productive years of your life, and I intend to take full advantage of it. I just look at some people confined to wheelchairs or beds, not being able to do anything, and in some cases, not even knowing what's going on around them. I want to avoid this for as long as I can, so that's my main motivation for this area of life. To that end, I am currently on a nutrition plan of eating 4 times a day, with light to moderate sized meals each time, and putting particular focus on ensuring I am eating some fruits or vegetables (mostly fruits right now) with each meal. I am not focusing too much on the actual micro and macro nutrient balance right now, just creating a meal plan that is sustainable, avoids fast food and maintains a healthy calorie count. For the latter, I am using MyFitnessPal to track my meals and calories. Really nice app. Once this becomes rock solid I will be expanding this to something more complex with more emphasis on micro and macro nutrient balance, although I don't have any specific plans currently on when and how. The idea here is just to get myself used to preparing my own food first, and then worrying about more specific things later. With fitness, the specific thing I am doing to keep my entire body in shape is going to the gym. The last couple of weeks I was able to make it to the gym 4 times, and I intend to continue that. My personal trainer gave me some supplemental material to help reinforce my knowledge of how to go about working out for optimal effectiveness, and I would like to explore that at some point. Right now, I am more focused on just going to the gym and making that a habit. I still have the trainer for another 3.5 months, and have plans to continue my sessions for another 6 months. After that, I will be on my own, so my overall goal is that I would like to become self sufficient with respect to working out by May 2019. I will speak with my trainer to figure out exactly what I will need to do to make that happen. I suppose part of health is also getting enough sleep, which I have been very consistent with for the most part for the past month or so, and I intend to continue to improve this. I am currently getting into bed by 10:00 PM and would eventually like to be in bed by 9:30. 2. I would put friendships and romance as #2 but I think it would be difficult to really maintain those effectively without some social skills. I'm exploring options on Meetup.com for how to go about improving this aspect of myself. The social gatherings in Niagara Falls have been good, and as I start to go on more hikes, that will also be an opportunity to improve my social skills. There is also group training at the gym, and I've been told that some people go there more to socialize than actually train, which I guess would include me. I'm also looking into doing geocache hunts in groups. Katrina invited me to a volleyball game that happens with some people she knows every Tuesday, so I will continue that as well. Basically I'm just looking for any opportunity to go out and meet people, but specifically in a setting where we're already there for another purpose, which makes it easier to break the ice. 3. Kind of goes hand in hand with the above. I figure as I get out to more and more social activities, I will inevitably make friends along the way, some really close ones as well I hope. The issue for me is that I don't really know what I'm supposed to do when I have friends. How often should I contact them, etc. etc. The only thing I'm fairly certain of is that friendship is supposed to be a two-way street. If you're always the one having to invite people out but they never return the favour, I'm not sure just how good of a friend that person really is. That being said, I also recognize that sometimes friends just naturally grow distant, but whenever they do get back together, it's like old times again. This whole area of life is one that doesn't seem to be driven by logic at all, and I'm just kind of hoping I'll get a feel for what I'm "supposed to do" as I go along. I also have to make it a point to not just become a robot and allow my personality to shine through as well. If there is any material out there to help with this, I'm open to suggestions. Romance is something that is really important to me at this stage of my life, possibly more important than anything else right now. However, I recognize that perhaps there are areas I need to work on before this becomes something attainable and sustainable. That being said, I don't actually believe there is some milestone I need to hit in order to deserve a romantic partner, and if something "just happens" along the way, I will fully embrace it and do the best I can to make it work. To that end, I am considering starting an online dating profile to get the ball rolling. My experience in online dating has met with.. mixed results, but I also feel I am more ready to take it on now than I was before. 4. Kind of goes hand in hand with #1. This will definitely act as the cardio portion of my fitness routine. Going on hikes, geocache hunts, etc. It is also going to be a way to help train my brain to lower the "expectations bar". Additionally, my complexion could use some work so being out in the sun will definitely be a good thing. Also, just being outside among nature is something that I find nice and relaxing so there's that too. It will also fill up a LOT of time, which I need right now as I pretty much started this process with an empty slate of things to do. 5. To be clear, personal development is not something I will be relentlessly pursuing as I did my previous attempts. I recognize the value of growth as a person but I just wasn't that into it before and still am not. That being said, stagnation is also not acceptable so I will lightly incorporate elements of personal development into my life, and I expect that will increase as I go. The above things are just much more important to me right now. Just to be clear, I associate personal development mostly with professional growth. Right now, I have a very stable job and don't really know what else to do with myself, so I'm not too worried about that at this time. Just as the quitting games for a year article said, as you try new things, you will discover if another passion is dwelling within you, dormant. If that happens, I will address it at that time. Now, all that being said, I think I will be trying to read some personal development material and incorporating those lessons into my life. I'm going to start with The Willpower Instinct, as that seems like something that would be immediately useful. --- So yeah, those are the major things I will be working on right now in a very broad view. I don't necessarily have a specific daily plan, although I recognize the importance of that. My work is such that I have to be somewhat flexible and it's a little hard for me to commit to a 24 hour plan each and every day. The quitting for a year article mentioned a morning and evening routine, which IS something that I should be able to do. I'm going out to do some geocache hunting today so I will think on this as I do that. Anyways, if you got this far, thanks for reading and cheers guys!

So I've been sifting through Linkin Park songs to see if there are any I'd like to add to my car CD. A lot of them have some really depressing lyrics like.. However, there's one verse in the song What I've Done that 100% resonates with me right now: I feel like the whole point of the song is to not beat yourself up over what you've done in the past, and just allow yourself to forgive what you might have done to others and yourself, and give yourself the opportunity to start again. Really awesome lyrics. Whatever It Takes by Imagine Dragons is another amazing one. Totally resonates with me.

1. Seems like a good point. More on this below. 2. I'm finding that confronting my fears and anxiety with curiosity instead of fear lessens the impact. Trying to understand why I think and feel the way I do might be a critical step towards full reintegration into real life. 3. Admittedly, I think a good deal of my decision to quit, at least on a subconscious level, may have been a single person. This is a very flawed way to justify any decision because once that focus is gone, it's so easy to go back to what you're trying to get away from. Finding something within myself to keep me going is definitely going to be important. Fortunately I have the next two weeks off, so no distractions and I can explore this idea more thoroughly. I see where you're coming from with respect to Cam's statement. In general terms, embracing and understanding an aspect you want to change is important for that change to occur. You cannot change something that you're either unaware of or do not acknowledge. --- Well I didn't think I would be posting here much and here I am. I guess this is the forum to get help for quitting games so I might as well use it. I've dumped all this kind of baggage on people in real life before and I refuse to do it again without full permission. I read the quit games for one year article and I feel like my keystone habits are already well in place, just have to be maintained and improved upon when possible. I guess the next step is focusing my efforts, which means coming up with some kind of plan for what I want to accomplish. I'm not real sure what the broad picture looks like quite yet but I've identified a few simple things I can explore more fully and see where that goes. At the very least, it'll give me something useful to do while I'm trying to figure out the big picture. - Geocaching.. I already attempted to find one and while I would definitely classify this activity as boring (for now.. probably the desensitivity to real life kicking in), it is mentally stimulating and can take up quite a lot of time. It is also useful in other ways. It gets my mind used to the idea of slowing down and not expecting something to be happening all the time. Every time I go out with people or do something, my mind seems to expect some kind of big thing to happen every time. I need to get used to the idea that absolutely nothing exciting happening at any point in time is perfectly healthy and acceptable. I will be aiming to explore this activity quite a lot going forward.. hopefully with friends at some point. - Hiking.. for many of the same reasons as geocaching, but this time I would also like to start doing them on my own. Again, for the reason that I seem to always "need something to happen", going on my own just feels pointless. Going out on my own and just enjoying the views and the workout is reward enough and I just need to get used to that. I guess I'll be putting a lot of emphasis on the idea of lowering the bar for my mind when it comes to what I should expect from any given situation. Starting out on this by just walking around the neighbourhood should be a good way to get going. I can expand to actual trails and stuff later on. - Meetups.. for obvious reasons. This, at least for now, will probably be the only thing I do to try to improve my social skills. I'll be aiming to hit up at least 2-3 per week, and I need to find some closer to home so I'm not always driving half an hour. Might not be a bad idea to start one of my own, but I need to make sure I am prepared for that commitment. If I had to really pinpoint one thing I really want to emphasize right now, it's just lowering the bar for what I expect out of any situation. Just an example, for some people, allowing themselves a sweetened coffee is something that they use to reward themselves for something. For me, it's like.. I should just be able to have the coffee whenever and wherever. My current ideas on rewards are just completely distorted and need to be brought in line. This along with just training myself to just allow things to happen and not always expect big things to occur every time I go somewhere. This all ties into what Xonor tried to say in #1 above. I don't really have anything in mind for a specific daily plan or anything like that at this point. I know I need to do something about that and I'll start thinking about it tomorrow for sure (bit busy tonight). Anyways, cheers!

Thanks for that. I came here to post a few more details but I just wanted to acknowledge your post and I will read it in detail tomorrow. I would like to address one thing you mentioned though: I am totally, absolutely ready to accept everything that I am at this time. The good and the bad. In fact, that's what I've been trying to do the last few days. Trying to understand why I'm having these anxiety attacks instead of just trying to file them away as something that I "just have to push through". I'm not so sure that they are normal withdrawal symptoms. Which brings me to my next point.. One other thing I forgot to mention above is that I'm considering the idea that a lot of this anxiety is real life issues, insecurities, what have you that I've been able to drown out through video games. Video games acted as a safety net against these things. That safety net no longer exists and now I am forced to confront these issues head on, completely unfiltered. Accepting them, working through them and attempting to resolve them seems to be absolutely critical to my continued growth. It should be noted that I feel very different this time around. It's hard to explain but I just have this absolute commitment to this process this time around. It might be because I've done so much maturing through my real life experiences the last year or so. From taking care of my 12 year old sister by myself while she went to school here, to buying a new house and having to learn how to manage that, among other things. I feel like I've been ready to take this step for a long time now, and my experience about a week ago is simply the final kick in the butt I needed to get it started. I feel like, no matter how hard it gets, I'm going to see this thing through to the end. Period. I've already gotten over my video game addiction. It's done. They're gone and never coming back. It's just a matter of going through the process to turn that concept into a reality. All that being said, I do have quite a bit to feel good about too. I've been going to the gym at least twice a week with a trainer for over a year now, and am now transitioning to going 4 times a week. I also very recently started tracking my calorie intake using MyFitnessPal, and through that also fixing my eating habits. Finally, I've gotten consistent at getting to bed by 10-10:30, although obviously it hasn't gone so well the last couple of days. Anyways, be back tomorrow to post more, maybe. Just putting all this stuff down in my journal has helped immensely so far.

So over the last few days, I've been feeling intense anxiety over just about everything. I am finding myself having thoughts about literally anything and everything for the sake of making myself feel anxiety. A few thoughts on it: 1. In video games, you are always "the man/woman".. my mind is very much used to that from games I suppose, and many of these thoughts and "movies" that play in my head are of a dramatic, over the top nature.. similarly to how most scenes are often played out in video games. I mostly chalked up the latter to my brain requiring rewiring in order to start thinking differently, but the actual anxiety doesn't seem to be going away. 2. I've started to suspect that perhaps on a subconscious level, my mind is fabricating things to be anxious about and hitting my conscious mind with it as hard as it can in order to make it easier to justify a relapse at some point in the future. 3. I may have some kind of.. I dunno.. inferiority complex or something. I've also started to suspect that, again, on a subconscious, I actually *crave* feeling anxious. That I want people to see me huddled up in the corner, crying. That I want them to see me at my lowest. All because I want them to feel sorry for me. This sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it seems to be true. I find it very difficult to suppress these feelings. I knew all of this was coming, but it doesn't make it suck any less. I've made it a very strong point to stay away from anything and everything to do with video games, and that may be why it's hit me harder than it ever has before. Unfortunately, this seems to be a critical barrier that I need to overcome and I have no idea how to do it at this time. This.. part of me that craves pity, that wants to feel like crap all the time, I need to find a way to deal with it somehow. I'm not sure if I'll ever find true success until I do. I am very much open to any suggestions anyone might have, and I thank everyone in advance for it. EDIT: @Cam Adair I just saw this quote of yours from earlier in my journal: Maybe this might apply to my situation. Can you elaborate a little bit more on what you mean by fully accepting it?

Hey Alex, good to see that things seem to be going well for you still. If you ever want to catch up feel free to hit me up on Skype!

Yeah, I hear that. The video games train you to expect only a limited set of outcomes, usually ones that are positive for you. All part of the rewiring process I suppose.

Hey guys, this is the third night in a row I haven't been able to fall asleep upon getting into bed because of anxiety. I just have so many thoughts racing through my head about.. well, everything. I realize this is probably withdrawal symptoms kicking in. Would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Thanks. I'm also starting to feel like I'm making too big of an effort to "make this work". I'm putting way too much focus on this situation. Need to look more at the big picture.. Just have to be myself, work hard at improving myself socially, and the right people will come my way. I just have to seize the opportunities as they arrive. Just have to do that and let the chips fall where they may.

So I ended up going out to play volleyball tonight with some people (including the aforementioned girl) and while I found it exciting at first, it didn't take too long for it to feel mundane. I attribute this to video game addiction symptoms. I also tried my best to talk to other people in the group but I felt very awkward. If I asked them pointblank, they probably would say there wasn't anything out of place regarding how I behaved but I clearly have a lot of work to do socially. It's only going to get better if I continue to go out and do things with people I don't know. I really regret one thing I didn't do tonight though. I was alone with Katrina (the girl I mentioned) and simply forgot to offer to walk her to her car. That really bothers me. I intend to apologize for that oversight when I see her tomorrow. So far so good in any event.. nothing so far has surprised me at all. I feel a lot more empowered and informed this time around with respect to how this is going to go and I think it will enable me to be a lot more successful. I at least know a lot of what to expect and I have plans in place to deal with those situations. One thing that I think should be EXTREMELY helpful this time around as opposed to last time is because even if Katrina and I don't start a relationship, she is very clearly interested in being my friend, and if all I get out of that situation is a really amazing friend, there's nothing wrong with that. This is basically the first time in my life a non family member has shown this much of an interest in me and it feels amazing. All of this because I managed to convince myself to go out to Niagara Falls to meet her in that social gathering.

Hey guys, so I'm giving the detox my First Serious Shot ™ , but I don't think I'll be making long, detailed posts like I used to. I'd like to use this mostly to track my general progress and canvas for help if needed. The reason I'm calling this the first serious shot, is because in my previous attempts I'm not totally sure that I was truly ready for it. I was still watching gaming videos and other such things. More importantly than that though, this is about much, much more than just a gaming detox. This is about evaluating who I am and what I want to be, and re-inventing myself as a human being, as almost the entirety of my existence has been, up to this point, intimately connected with video games. I suppose the straw that broke the camel's back, as it were, is an experience from yesterday. A girl had contacted me in January on Meetup because she was beginning to date again and remembered me from a previous experience. I didn't see this message until 2 days ago. I met with her, and due to various reasons that aren't terribly important, there is a chance that I may have missed a really great dating opportunity here. It wasn't gaming directly that caused this situation, it was because I gave up on Meetup.. because of gaming. This isn't just about one specific girl or anything like that. This is about constantly missing excellent opportunities because things got too hard or I told myself I would rather just game, or whatever excuse I came up with. I've had temporary success with this a few times in the past, so I know I can do it. I'm going to try putting a lot less pressure on myself to go and do things. I think I need to start allowing myself to spend time just doing nothing, otherwise I'm just going to burn out again. Speaking of which, I also need to make sure I have a plan in place to try to avoid burning out, or deal with burning out if I start to feel it coming on. Whatever I do, there is only one rule that I must strictly adhere to: no more gaming, or anything related to gaming in any way, no matter what. I won't say it hasn't helped me in any way in the past, but its usefulness has run its course, and it's time to let it ride off into the sunset. I think one of the first things I need to do is find some close real life friends to do things with. I think that's going to go a long way to making this attempt successful, so that'll be a priority. And so, today marks day 1 of this journey.

Alex I think it's a good idea to do the detox counter again. You've already accepted this as a relapse so having that there could work as a little bit of extra motivation. Human beings crave things to work towards so just having that there might be a good thing for you. Up to you though.

It happens man. The most important thing was that you realized what was happening before it got completely out of control and took steps to stop it. The one big positive that you can take from this is that you experienced what a whole year without gaming is like, and when you went back to gaming, clearly it was something that you no longer felt should have any part of your life. You can move forward now knowing that for absolute certain. I would definitely recommend finding some new hobbies to explore. If you continue to work so hard without doing anything to take a breather, you're probably going to be tempted back to games again. Clearly this is something you don't want. Regardless, it's good that you posted about this! best wishes for you going forward!

Hi guys, just a quick update since I missed it during the weekend. In short, last week wasn't any better than the previous week, but I think I've got a good handle on it right now. Yesterday turned out quite well so just looking to build off of that.

Thanks for the encouragement guys, I think I've got somewhat of a handle on it. Just scaling things back a bit until I get my shit together. By the way, Onlysoul, I love your signature!

OK then.. Last week was quite up and down. And things have started to quickly spiral out of control for me the last few days. I ordered chicken wings the last two days, and I've neglected my hygiene and haven't been to the gym since Friday. I think it's just been a combination of a bit of extra work at work and all those unfortunate things that happened to me recently. I'm removing doing the Success Triggers course for the immediate future, and just going to focus on getting back to my good habits that I've been working on the last couple of months. Here's to a much better week this week!

Hi ha535065, thanks for sharing your thoughts! Yes, it is much better in my opinion to set smaller tasks, accomplish those and feel good about yourself for doing so than setting yourself up for failure by piling on a massive list and ending up not doing anything at all. As you've noted, you can easily build on your success to - one day - do more than you have been. For me, it's just a matter of the process that I have to go through because I haven't practiced these habits until recently. My entire life, I've been accustomed to doing things the easiest way possible, and now I am teaching myself how to do the things I need to do to get what I want out of life. As far as goal setting, in my opinion it is extremely important simply because it gives you something to work towards. It's so easy to feel lost and directionless if you don't have something you're working towards, and that in and of itself can be very demoralizing. I would start small - in your case, you seem like you've already set a couple of goals there. Now just follow through on them! Once you get into the habit of setting smaller goals and making them happen, you can start tackling larger and more complicated tasks, and feel confident that they will get done instead of being left on the back burner and creating mental baggage that you have to carry around. On that last note, it is very important to realize that tasks left undone are still creating a strain on you - a mental strain. It is so easy to always look back and think about the things you haven't done, and that can become an anchor when it comes to pushing yourself to do other things. If something feels like it's just too much to handle, there's a good chance that it is, and it would be best to make the conscious decision to leave it for later. Obviously this has to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, but so far this has worked very well for me so hopefully it's something that can work for you! Lastly, as far as goals that don't get accomplished, it is always best to look on it as simply an area that needs to be improved upon rather than treating it like a failure. There is always something you can learn from not getting something done, and there is always something you can hang your hat on.. you just need to find it. Have a great day!

Yet another update! So for the most part, the week was pretty good, albeit somewhat grueling. I'll start by saying that for the last two weeks, I did only 2 instead of 3 modules of Success Triggers. I don't see this as a failure however as previously I had been doing nothing at all. I see this as a building block towards getting more comfortable tackling these personal development exercises. The end goal I guess is that I want to figure out what to do with myself long term through the Earn1K course, so this is a good start. There are a few follow-ups from these modules that I haven't completely done yet, one of which I am not 100% comfortable in pursuing, but I will make it a goal to make sure I finish all of that by next week. The last couple of days however have been a bit rough. Essentially I've just been hit by a number of unfortunate events basically all at once. I learned that the government didn't receive my income tax payment. Long story short, I ended up paying my taxes to my dad's government account instead of mine so I have to deal with that. I also injured my hip or glute or something that has caused significant discomfort the last couple of days. Due to that, I didn't go to the gym today and I'm just going to take it a little slow for a bit and see how it progresses. If it gets any worse, I'm going to need to see the doctor about it. Lastly, I broke one of my molars, so I'm going to the dentist tomorrow to see what can be done about it. My hope is that he can repair it and all will be good. I also went to bed way too late the last 2 days.. nearly 2 AM. I "justified" it by saying I wanted to watch a couple of late baseball games but I ended up staying up nearly an hour after the games both days. So I will need to double down on my efforts to getting to bed on time this week. All in all it was a good week with a couple of rough patches, but I am confident that it will not hinder my progress at all.

Time for an update! Things went pretty well this week overall, and for the most part I was able to accomplish all my new goals. I did run into a situation last night where I didn't go to bed on time nor did I brush my teeth before I did. I don't know if it was as a result of that, but I also felt really hesitant about going to the gym as well, but I managed to push myself to do it. I wouldn't call this a point to re-evaluate what I'm doing to see if I'm taking on too much, but it is something to keep in mind. I largely did what I wanted to do and that's all that really matters. Additionally, after going through one of the modules of Success Triggers, Ramit talked about the idea of creating a mindset of abundance instead of scarcity. The idea is that instead of completely cutting out something you want to get rid of that you actually like, just to accept that you really do like that one thing and allowing yourself one "cheat day" a week to indulge in whatever that thing is guilt free. I don't really want to completely adopt this idea, but I am allowing myself one day a week to have 2 coffees a day instead of just one - as long as it doesn't compromise what I'm trying to do otherwise. That day was yesterday. Speaking of Success Triggers, I am skipping out on doing the 3rd module today, but I made a conscious decision to do that because I did start to feel a slight bit of burnout due to having already worked 4 days in a row with another 5 ahead of me, so I just want to pace myself and not end up taking on too much at once. Aside from that, not much else to say!