Soap

Day #3, I decided I really need to get gaming out of my life... I keep jumping back and forth between telling myself: 'Gaming isn't a problem for me' and 'Gaming is a problem and I should stop'. But the fact is: It is a problem for me! And I can't keep having gaming hold me back. Honestly it's mostly the nostalgia and the fact that I have been struggling with anxiety that keeps me going back. It's time to stop for good, no more "I'll just stop gaming for a month and then I'll game in moderation". Plan of action: #1, I need to figure out how to explain to my one gaming friend I won't be playing games with him anymore and I want to find a way we could still hang out without games. #2, Find a new hobby. #3, Delete anything that still exists from back in my gaming days. Honestly I've already deleted all my saves (One that I surely spent well over 4000 hours on and it was one of the most painful experiences of my life). This is probably the hardest 'to-do' since it literally feels like I'm losing a part of myself every time I delete this stuff. As I said I've already gotten rid of most my old stuff, the next thing that still exists is a huge folder filled with screenshots that makes me super nostalgic when I look through it. ... continuing with what I was saying with '#3', I hate getting rid of the stuff that reminds me of my past but I feel like if I can't truly let go of this stuff then I'll always find a way to come back. Also, fun fact: I noticed that I created my account on November 20 2017, it's November 21 2018 on the day that I am posting this. Found that sort of funny ?.

Interesting idea! And congratulations on sticking with your commitment ?! Good luck to you for the coming days and beyond!

Hey! I just want to say good luck and... It can be really tough getting away from any addictions, gaming being one of them. I for one, started my journey back in November 2017, did really well for awhile and then as soon as I let my guard down I was back to my old habits. Now I'm here again, for the second time. That's the important thing, never give up, keep trying, every time you fail there is a little bit of success: Such as learning new strategies, learning what works and what doesn't, learning more about yourself etc and thus the next time is always an opportunity to do better. Yes! I can vouch for working out at home. I'd recommend setting a long term goal, tracking your progress somehow and making a workout planner. Sometimes it takes awhile to really get into it but I usually find that once I'm going... I'm going... as in I can't stop and I love it. That sounds awesome! What sort of process do you usually go through? Have you designed some board games in the past?

Yea I can defiantly relate with the procrastinating and doing nothing! But if we keep working on our goals eventually we will succeed! So good luck to you! Anyway I'm essentially back on day 1 again because I've been struggling with leaving YouTube completely. I've had some temptations with games but have thus far been ok. I did play a video game with a friend on Saturday for about an hour or so but that within my original rules, thus that didn't compromise my day counter nor did I feel like it made me want to play more games mainly because we played a multilayer only game. Here comes the 'But': But where I did compromise my counter was with watching some YouTube videos. The first was on Saturday night when I went to bed, I was having trouble with falling asleep and eventually I gave up and not knowing what to do I started watching a couple of videos (Maybe half an hour). The second time was yesterday (Monday morning) when I decided to watch a new video from one of favorite channel. On both of those occasions I didn't feel like watching those videos wasted much time or had much of a negative impact on me. If it wasn't for the reason that I will get into now, I'd say YouTube isn't even a problem... except it is. You see, although I can watch 30 minutes of videos in a day without causing me much trouble, there is a problem. The problem being that I struggle to stay away from YouTube and that's what bothers me. I want to be able to whenever I decide not to watch YouTube videos, to be able to do it and thus far I have failed to do that. Thus until I am fully in control of my habit, I'll continue fighting to overcome it. Regardless of the above, I still feel good about what I have been doing. Over the weekend I was doing a course on cryptocurrency on udemy, which I am now almost done with. I also started learning programming with my brother, I've been staying consistent with my exercise and I feel like I have been doing more things outside and away from my computer which is a good thing. Of course the fact that I haven't been gaming and or watching (much) YouTube has also been great; I feel better, my brain feels less cluttered and I feel like I can think better and things other than gaming and YouTube have been getting me excited about life. Okay... thanks for the read... Have a great day... or night!

Update time! (Currently starting day 1) At the time of writing this I'm really quite cheery! First let me just clear up any confusion about the days: Yesterday was day 0 since before I committed to this challenge I already watched some YouTube videos, which means yesterday can't count towards my 90 days progress. Thus today is day 1 and I'm ready to go! Now back to what I mean by 'I'm quite cheery'; well for one I've had a great start to my day, having done quite a few productive things, I've also got some social stuff to look forward to and lastly I just finished reading part of an older journal (Or I should say I read the older parts of it, since it's still being updated) by 'Pierce' where I saw a comment left by 'play_time_is_over' which really got me thinking about my goals and which are most important to me. Click here for the comment! Yesterday when I made this forum thread I listed most of my goals and in no particular order. But today I feel like it's important that I list my goals in the order that is most important to me. So here are my goals from the previous post, listed in order, with some other goals added: No Gaming and YouTube (Comment: Not wasting my time is what this challenge is really about and these are my 2 biggest time wastes.) Stay consistent with my 5 days a week exercise program (Comment: Again I have goals I want to achieve and I haven't been working hard enough on them) Stay up to date on my school work Use my daily planner Write in this forum thread Write in my personal journal Eat Healthier That's the order of important for my goals. Don't get my wrong, I want to do them all. But if I fail on #7 then it's not as a big deal as #1 because #1 is what this is challenge is all about. And as 'play_time_is_over' mentioned I shouldn't let failing other goals affect the success of my main goal. Also not saying I will fail but I still felt it was important to have an ordered list so I know what's most important to me. Thanks for reading ?, I hope you all have a great day!

Hello People! Yea so this is my second time I'm making a forum thread. It took me awhile of debating before I decided to start a new one rather than continuing my previous one. Which if you're interested in seeing that one, here it is: Click Here I decided it made more sense to start a new one, because for one my goals are different than to my original 90 days and this way I get to have a new blank canvas. For those curious, my previous go at the 90 day detox went for around a month before I ended up jumping back into the gaming scene and Youtube, which I was also staying away from. Honestly since then I've had ups and downs, I don't feel gaming is such a major issue for me anymore but rather wasting time in front of a computer in general. I've been having trouble getting the things done that I actually care about simply because I keep finding ways of wasting time: Mindless Internet browsing, pointless Youtube videos, Games etc. Thus my goal with this 90 day detox is not so much specifically meant as a gaming detox but rather a 'Wasting Time in front of the Computer Detox'. Anyways I've set myself some rules/goals for the next 3 months and they are as follows (In no particular order): Write a progress update on this forum thread every day (This is to help fill up my spare time and keep me accountable) Write in my personal journal at least twice a week (Same reasoning as previous point) No watching YouTube unless it's a social thing, such as watching certain series with my family, or educational, such as watching drawing tutorials. (Because YouTube is for the most part a time waste. Also I'm planning to download the tutorial videos I want instead of watching them directly on YouTube, thus I avoid unnecessary temptation.) No gaming, except 4 hours maximum on Saturdays and only if it's with a friend. (No gaming because it wastes my time and I'm allowing myself to play on Saturdays because one of my friends and I have been playing games online every so often and I feel it's acceptable as long as I don't overdo it) Stay consistent with my 5 day a week exercise program. (I have certain fitness goals I want to reach and this is the only way I'll achieve them anytime soon) Eat Healthy. (I've for the most part been eating healthy but I want to cut out the unhealthy snacks I've been consuming and replace them with healthier options) Lastly I want to once again, as I've done before, use a daily planner to help me stay productive. (Do I even need to add more?) That's it for now, thanks for reading ?!

I just read through all your posts and I feel quite inspired by them, it's also great to hear that you are sleeping better! Also Happy Birthday !

Good luck and I would personally say add on to your main post in the comments since it would better show off your progress

It's been a really long time since I have posted on this forum and quite a few things happened in that time. I had some goods and bads, for one I ended up relapsing right at about a month but even so, for the most part I've been playing very little games. It's only been in the last week abouts that I've actually been playing games to the point of where it's a problem once again. Although even so it's still not even that much compared to what I used to do. I'm not trying to make excuses, I'm trying to see in what ways I have improved; at the moment I feel I need to stop calling myself a failure and look at what has improved from the since the time that I made my first post on this forum. So here it is: The one thing I'm pretty proud of is that I have been exercising very consistently for the most part. There are a few days where I lazied out but I feel like regardless of those days, I have still been doing good. Even though I feel like I'm still not doing good enough when it comes to eating healthy, when I really look at it, my eating habits are many times better than most people. I generally eat a lot of raw fruits and vegetables, tend to eat breakfasts that consist of eggs, fruit and vegetables sometimes with oats thrown into the mix somehow, either through a sort of granola or just cooked on it's own. Lunch is generally some vegetables with a sandwich or something of the sort while dinner is usually some kind of cooked meal with a salad and often cooked vegetables. The place I feel I'm failing at is when I'm snacking on things, which usually involves a bag of chips or chocolates. But when I look at it honestly I'm not even doing it that much, thus I guess I've gotten to a point where I'm not even giving myself any space but I'm not really sure. For the last few things: I've also started working on a website which although it's not done yet, it's still something that I'm doing. Other than the past week I've been doing very little gaming. From since the time I last posted on here till now I have read a lot of books. I have also done quite a bit of writing! I have been doing a Photography course and although I still have a long way to go, I do think I'm getting somewhere. Anyway, in a way I don't know why I'm randomly posting on here again but I guess the fact that I am means I feel like things are going sour for me. Although I don't have any goal set yet, I do think I should stop gaming again before I fall all the way down again. As I stated it's only been this past week that I've really been gaming again and although it's not been the same amount of hours it was last year, it's still the start of a road that only goes further and further into the dark forest. I should honestly find another good book or series of books to read because I find books are a really good distraction which often get me completely addicted but a book has a end to it and although I could easily spend many hours reading a book, unlike with gaming I actually feel like I'm getting somewhere. I feel it would be pointless making a post where I basically have no clear set goal thus I'm going to set myself a few goals now, for the next few days. 1, Create a schedule and follow it. 2, Find something new / different to do, a new creative project or simply a book about an exciting topic. And 3, Write in my Journal. Sorry this is a very late reply . I've been someone who hates just sitting for hours upon hours and I hate doing that in front of a computer screen even more but yet I also have that irony of that I would spend hours in front on a computer screen even though I would hate myself for doing it afterwards. Honestly I'm glad that I've been gaming so much less and with this realization I also realize why I should stop this downwards path I found myself on this past week...

Day 13!!! After today I will officially be game free for 2 weeks! Now about the last few days... I've been fairly busy these past few days but I've started having this itch for games even though I've kept busy with other things. Yesterday I posted about this on the Discord group and someone mentioned that there must be something that gaming did for me which I am missing now. So here is what I am missing about gaming; one of the biggest thing's is the creation part of the games I used to play. I mainly played Minecraft but I would also create things for the game. Such as the thing I'm missing most about Minecraft right now is the ability to create a modpack (Collection of mods) because right before I quit I had this very original idea for a custom modpack which would give a totally different experience to how you play the game. I've also had a itch to do other more creative sort of things within sandbox games. By now I think it should be obvious that there is a trend here, I enjoy creating things, doing projects and being creative. That's probably the reason I enjoyed games so much is because there are a lot of games that allow a lot of creative freedom. But when it comes to filling that gap in my life I'm not really sure how; I don't think all the obvious answers are very helpful: painting, sculpting, drawing, etc. I guess in a way it's really hard to recreate that same experience you get from creating things for or in a game. The closest I can think of getting to that feeling is programming but I don't know if it's really something I want to do. Part of why I felt the need to quit gaming is to get away from my computer and outside (Which I've done a lot of, from since I quit); programming needs lots of time to learn, practice, experiment and test which would put me right back in front of my computer again. I should mention I already do my school work in front of a computer that's why I'm so keen on staying away from my computer where ever else I can. I'm sorry if this turned into a rant but it helps to type out what I'm feeling at the moment. I should mention this itch isn't to the point of me feeling I'm going to relapse it's just a frustrating itch that doesn't want to go away. Such as an annoying mosquito bite that doesn't want to go away, you can continue with your life but it make's it more uncomfortable. Really any advice would be helpful. Maybe this is something I can just wait out... I don't really know!

I agree with this! And the fact is there is so much more to life than just gaming! I personally don't think it's time that will tell. It's you! You have control over your life, your decisions and what you're going to do. Don't think otherwise. We humans have free will, sheep don't... they all just run off cliffs together! Don't run off a cliff! Run through your walls, barriers, problems and fears! I wish you best of luck and hope 'more' whatever it is will be found by you!

Day 9 I'm starting to lose track of what day I'm on! (Right now I should be on day 10 meaning I've done 9 days) Thus I think I'm going to print out a calendar with the 90 days and then cross them off one by one. Although that might give the impression that I'm just waiting to play games again which isn't the case, it's more that I want to reach this goal. In fact I honestly don't think I should go back to gaming, even in moderation. I'm pretty sure that if I do I'll just fall back into the same hole I dug myself into before. "It takes time to climb a ladder but failing back down is another matter" -Soap November 2017 Oh and for that creative project I mentioned way back, I'm just going to be writing a sort of short story thing but It'll take quite awhile to do it since I'm going to be doing some research for it in addition to the writing and planning of it. I'll try do a update on the boredom thing tomorrow or sometime soon... Really it comes down to; keep it simple! The simpler something is the less things can go wrong. In this case having less things to think about makes it easier to stick with the things you are currently doing. Thank you! Also I really like your signature!

Day 8 A suggestion I have was learned the hard way... So when you're already trying to stay away from stuff, in my case gaming, youtube and to a lesser degree junk food as well as introduce new habits such as frequent exercise; then don't add too many other things that need self control such as buying a big box of candy and telling yourself you'll use it as a reward for when you complete your work for the day and it will only be a few pieces. I like to think of self control as a power gauge that produces or uses a certain amount of power based on what activities you do. So for example a good sleeping habit adds +10 while staying away from a slice of cake reduces the day's self control by -2. I remember reading something about how self control is actually a limited resource which can be depleted and in my experience I definitely find it to be true. I'll see if I can find it again so that whoever is interested can take a look. Right now I feel I'm in a pretty good spot, not perfect though as you'll see. I'll try and describe it here for my own benefit as well as an example of the above. As a base line I'd say I have +20 SP (Self Points that's what I'll call the points on the self control gauge). Waking up early is getting easier but is probably taking around -2 (SP=18). Day to day there aren't many things, maybe a few small things so I'll say that is -1 (SP=17). Then the big ones are staying away from gaming -6 and YouTube -6 (SP=5). Exercising is a weird one because just to start takes a lot but once I do it's as if I get more SP out of it than I use to start but for now I'll say it's surprisingly a 0. Then there is the school work one (I am a home schooler) and I feel that is where I am suffering at the moment because it's probably doing -7ish (SP=-2). But I'm not going to be using this as an excuse instead I'll try and find things that boost my motivation to do all this. Other than that nothing much to comment on. I might start posting every second day or maybe doing a big update once a week because I try and only comment on things I have experienced related to my 90 day detox adventures which is getting harder because there is less to comment on. Don't worry I'm still trying new things and trying to keep my days interesting, I just don't have as much to say about the detox at the moment.

Day 7 This is pretty cool! I'm done with my first week, which is actually pretty hard to believe. The first 2 days of this felt like they where taking forever but yet I got past those and now it's 1 week! Now time for week 2!

Day 6 I got through yesterday without too many problems. It was a very different Saturday without the games I'd usually play, but it was "good different". I found that exercise really is an amazing distraction because not only does it help with boredom but it gives you goals to work towards. And what I found funny is that, not playing games helps me with exercise and exercising helps me stay away from games. Basically it has happened twice already where I really don't feel like doing my workout but then since I'm bored, I just go "Well I have nothing better to do" and then I do it! Admittedly I used to just skip the workout if I was busy with a game and didn't feel like working out. Yet I never regret working out, it's always fun if I can only get myself to start. Out of this I've learned that boredom isn't actually a bad thing, the problem with boredom is if you have easy quick escapes to quickly go to then it's too easy to just do those (YouTube, Gamings, Mindless Internet Surfing, Netflix etc). But if you use that boredom to get yourself to do stuff, it's actually a very powerful tool for better productivity. Anyway it's very well and good to say all that, but how do I intend to implement this? Well my idea is that I'm going to write down 3 tasks in the evenings that I want to focus on the next day, then put them on my wall. And instead of trying to avoid boredom constantly (By finding stuff to do 24/7 which anyway often ends up being time wasters) I'll use it as a motivator to do my 3 main tasks by starting one of the 3 tasks (At random if I must) when I start feeling bored. Thus this is a sort of experiment. I'll do updates on how it works out, later on! Thanks and Great! I'm actually going to be doing some courses at a place near me next year. But unfortunately through out the holidays there aren't many academies open. Although there may be people offering lessons through out the holidays so I'll ask around. But at the very least I do plan to go and practice Photography at many different locations including hiking trails, nature reserves maybe even a zoo.

Day 5 I don't actually have much to say about day 5. Other than being lazy in the afternoon, the day went well with little thinking about games and youtube. At the moment I'm a little concerned about what I'll be doing this weekend. The weekend was actually where I'd mainly play games. But I know I can do it ! Hello Cam! Thank's for starting all this! (Game Quitters)

Day 4 Hard to think that I'm already on day 5. When I first started it felt like doing this was going to take a century, yet now I'm actually surprised that I'm already on the 5th day. Yesterday went really well for me! I did much better in my studies than what I have for what must probably be the last 2 months, I also stuck to my workout schedule. I feel as if I'm more aware of what's happening around me now, I see the little details that I failed to see in my gaming and youtube fog. When I went to bed last night: I actually felt happy, I felt content with how that day went, I was excited for the future and I was thinking about meaningful things as I fell asleep. I'm planning to start doing an online Photography course pretty soon! Then I'll be practicing Photography over the Holidays, which means I'll have something where I could see progress and achievement over the Holidays. My next big thing I need to tackle is getting into more social environments. I used to mostly settle my social needs by playing a game while on a call with someone. Now I realize that wasn't much of a way to be social. Thank you :). Good to know it's interesting! Thanks and I'll do that! I'm genuinely enjoying sharing my experiences on here.

Day 3 Now on day 4! What I want to mention about yesterday is specifically a walk I did. Now I've seen a lot of suggestions on this forum and else where, one that I keep seeing is take a walk. Well, I did just that... I didn't think much of it at first, but it was an amazing walk. All I did was go out of my house and walk around for a bit, but I ended up seeing a street / neighborhood that I've never seen before even though it was just 2 minutes walk from my house. I also realized that previously when I would go on walks which would be rare, my mind would always be clogged which thoughts of the game I just finished playing or the Youtube video I'll watch this afternoon when it comes out. Thus I found the experience really surprised me, I found myself really appreciating the world around me. I also felt more grounded... to well... the ground. I actually felt like I was in the real world! While I was out on the walk, I walked into a homeless guy. I ended up having a bit of a conversation with him and I was able to help him out by giving him some old shoes. And that just felt amazing: talking to a random person, getting to know them and even helping them with something. That would have never happened had I been sitting at home gaming or watching a youtube video. I'll be doing it again! Enough said

Haha, hope to hear more updates soon

Hi, I just want to say best of luck

I do have a laptop although it needs a new battery . Thanks for the advice, I'm thinking if I solve my battery issue I could even go sit in a park (Have lots of them near my house) and do some of the things that need doing .

2 Days in!!! Why I put 3 exclamations for 2 days I don't know! But I am indeed 2 days in and not missing gaming and youtube too much. Today is day 3 so I'll be talking about yesterday. I do think I need to find more things to "Go and Do" like I mean getting out of the house. Because most of my current plans for things to do involve just staying at home. Which even though I did say that I'm not missing / having cravings for gaming and youtube, I still want to get out for later when I might have those and I feel like getting out more would do me good (Can't really explain what I mean though). Being a homeschooler who spent a lot of time on games and youtube means that I didn't really get out much especially since a few years ago when I started homeschooling due to being pretty sick (Which lasted about 2 years) I also quit all the sports activities I used to do. My sports and activities used to include martial arts 2 times a week which also meant I had lots of events related to it happen on some other days as well a running which took me out of the house for a bit but the big thing was I attended running events on weekends specifically trail running. Those things would take me out of the house and bring me into more social environments. Now although I am running again, I don't do the martial arts and running events anymore in addition to the fact that I now home school. I have considered joining a school again since I am no longer sick. But I find the opportunity to finish my studies early an appealing one. Which leaves me with the other things I used to do. I can't start a sport right at this moment but I'm adding it to my 2018 to do list. Running events tend to continue even over the holidays so I'll make it a goal to start attending more of those. I might even join a running club if there is one open over the holidays. And since my post is already long I'll just quickly cover some other points: -For a project that I mentioned in my previous post, I'm still not sure of what to do to be perfectly honest -I've been reading other posts on this forum and found lots of inspiration in them!

Congrats on your first day! I feel as if in some ways I am in a similar situation to you in that I hate it when people ask me questions about myself because I don't feel like I do anything worth sharing. So usually when people ask me questions like what did you do this week, I'd just try and go around the question by saying stuff such as "Oh, just stuff and things". Personally I'm planning to actively seek out things to do away from my home such as: going on a new roller coaster, attending random community social events, joining a running club etc. That way I'd get out there and experience new / different things. Anyway best of luck to you .

Thank you

How "Day 1" went: I'm currently busy with the 90 day game free life (I'm also stopping youtube). At the time of writing this I am currently on day 2, meaning I have completed my first day. From my first day I can already say that this isn't easy, if you even played only a few hours a day then suddenly having to fill that up is difficult. Not because there aren't enough things to do, but for me personally the problem was that everything else required some thought and or motivation to start. For example even though sketching is something I enjoy, it's way easier to sit down and start playing a video game. Thus, even though I didn't intend to do so, I ended up just doing nothing for parts of the day. My Plans for "Day 2": Today I'll be using an organization app to help me plan out my day and thus not leave me thinking: "What now?". I'm also going to think of a long term project I would want to do, either a creative project such as some form of writing or something more practical such as fixing a broken computer. I'm also considering telling some more of my friends about it as that may help me be more motivated to go through with this.