BooksandTrees

Great posts. I agree with what you said that I said about hobbies not being work lol. I just had a breakthrough of my own with hobbies and finding a process I enjoy. I think it's easy to find something we're interested in but the hobby needs to progress with the path of least resistance for it to flow well. We get caught up being so linear in progression. An example of this is I've been playing the drums to absolutely random songs I find and read the tabs twice while playing, then move onto another song. I hit bored perfecting like 4 songs.

You doing ok? Sorry about the girlfriend situation.

Thanks. I'm feeling better and less burnt out. I'm still burnt out but I feel capable instead of frozen.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I've once again been away doing a ton of house stuff, work projects, and much more. I interviewed for a new job and didn't get it. I wasn't really interested in it and they could tell. I've taken a lot of time to do nothing and embrace boredom actually. Last week I finished all my projects at work and a ton of stuff at home. I just wanted to take some time this weekend to recharge, reset, and do nothing. I ended up using the whole weekend for this. No goals, no hobbies, no checklists. I exercised, cleaned, self care, read, cook, spend time with my fiancee, and sleep. I feel a lot better. I am having a conversation with my boss Monday about how he snaps and says mean things abs we'll see how it goes. I haven't written on here in weeks because it just feels like work. Even writing now feels like work. I think that means I'm busy as hell and need to relax. So I'll continue this. I haven't over eaten in weeks since that post. I've taken time to draw, stretch, relax, and accept the situation a little.

I had a week off from work and had a lot of fun with family and friends. I got a lot of stuff done on my house and did hobbies. I went back to work and instantly got depressed and stress ate even when I wasn't hungry. I gave up gaming and porn and now it's food. Right when I get stressed I March to the kitchen. I've bought tons of healthier food, but even if it's healthy, consuming extra calories is still gonna hit. I need some sort of activity that I can do when I'm anxious or fidgety. I considered gum but I'm concerned how it'd impact my teeth. Maybe hand grips or something?

Thank you very much! I'll be in touch on your journal soon. Sorry for being away and great hearing from you.

Welcome to the forums. You're doing a great job and the first thing I need you to do is take a few deep breaths and be in the moment. There's a lot of anxiety and potential panic tones coming from your writing. That's ok. You're doing a good job. You've got this. I suggest writing about your cravings and what's causing you to panic. One of the toughest parts is dealing with boredom. It's ok to be bored. It's very restorative to the mind during periods of burnout and stress. I wrote a long piece in the celebrations forum called 500 days without gaming. I recommend reading that. Be your own friend. You've got this.

Thank you! I'm also applying for a new job. I spoke too soon about work not being an issue. This place is getting bad fast.

What a huge couple of weeks. We moved into our house, sold one condo, and got my security deposit back from my old apartment. It feels nice to move on and let those two go so I can focus on one. Relationship is going well. We took engagement photos and have been focusing on communication, support, and giving love. Lots of family members are offering to help do stuff at our house which is nice, but overwhelming. We want to do do a lot ourselves and just relax a bit. They're understanding though. Hobbies are slightly stagnant because of having everything packed up, but I'm spending my time by cleaning, unpacking, and house projects. It's nice and I don't have any cravings. Work is great. Getting busy and I'm doing better with my boss after a few misunderstandings. We had a polite conversation about it and moved on. If there's one skill I know I have, it's communication lol. Hope you're doing well.

Things are going well overall. I've bought a house and I've been improving relationships with my parents and family. It's been quite the relief. Things with my fiancee have been wonderful. She's been so loving and caring. I'm very lucky. It's been a pretty exhausting couple of weeks which is why I haven't posted. Work has been busy, the house stuff is tiring, and I've had so many friends and family trying to hang out and see me. I'm trying to fit it all in but I'm very tired. Ironically, the reason I'm posting right now is because I don't feel well and I'm up late. I can't sleep due too a migraine and I've got some stomach pain. I'm very scared of feeling sick so I'm just going through my practice of anxiety relief and trying not to panic. I have a slight suspicion of being food poisoned so I'm praying that's not the case and it's just dehydration from a very active day with not enough water. I hope you're all doing well.

Things are going well. It feels like life is going very fast with planning for the future, work, etc. Therapy is going well and I'm still doing this on a regular basis. I've been less and less interested in writing on here recently. I mentioned before how it can be difficult to write on here once you are here for a certain amount of time because you see so many people come and go that it almost feels like you're writing a personal diary. I just haven't felt like writing in my diary recently since I've been tired. I'm not suffering from depression though. I've actually been very happy recently. I also feel like I discuss my issues with so many people now. I speak with my fiancee, my therapist, family, friends, etc that by the time I'm done with that I don't want to summarize it again on here. That's a good problem to have. I feel like I've got a tremendous network now and I'm addressing all of my issues as they come with a very logical state of mind. At the end of the day I'm just naturally tired and ready for bed. Hope you're all doing well.

I've been seeing a lot of friends recently. With covid clearing up a bit, I've been seeing about 3 friends or family members a week. It's pretty exhausting to be honest. I forgot how many people I used to interact with on a regular basis before covid and after quitting video games. I haven't wanted to post on here in a while just because I feel like I recap the past few weeks or months with all of my friends each week. So I just want to relax after. I've been doing so much socializing that my hobbies haven't gained too much progress other than a podcast being made with one friend. After this weekend I'm gonna reduce it to one hangout every other week. I need a little balance. I hope you're all doing well. I've decided to exercise at lunch every day because I don't like morning or night exercise. I'm too focused on work or tired after work lol.

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Welcome back. I hope you're doing well. That is nice of you to say.

Thank you! I did one of those stretches and actually did about 15 minutes of stretching. I'm also doing things to fix my posture at my computer desk while i work. I tied a belt around my thighs because i kept crossing my legs lol. It was because my hip flexors are tight etc.

Today I'll be doing some background art. I've decided not to share my current cartoon art to remain anonymous. I apologize for those curious to see it. Something I realized is I'm not very flexible anymore. If I sit against a eashl and try to straighten my legs to stretch my hamstrings, they don't even go straight. This means my posture is bad when I stand too. So I'm gonna be stretching 2 to 3 times a day for a while and probably the rest of my life. It helps me relax as well. Work went extremely well and I'm seeing my therapist every 3 weeks now instead of twice a week or once s week like I had been. I've made incredible improvements and am so grateful to everyone who has supported me.

Hey, thanks for the comments. I have been super busy with work and trying to socialize with friends a little more now that covid is going down a bit. I'm doing well. I finished rigging all my characters and they look awesome. I haven't started background art yet because I gotta learn how to do them properly again. It takes a while to get used to something and then I feel comfortable. Work is going very well. They gave me my midyear review and said I was doing an outstanding job. I'm really happy about work now. I was overthinking the last post I made. I've lost a few pounds and now I'm starting to get back into hobbies as the weather gets better.

Great job! Glad to hear from you.

@WildRiftQuitter

I'll give a longer response today when I have more time but if you go to the celebrations part of the forum I wrote a piece about being 500 days free and wrote a huge article about it. You might find some answers there before I respond.

That happens to all of us and I dealt with it for years. I was able to overcome it by not gaming and then realizing if I played the single player one it was satisfying my craving for gaming in general and if I got bored it meant I was good and ready for a new hobby in real life. I think you just have to change the patterns a bit and you'll find success there.

I haven't really been motivated to work the past 2 days. I'm a little tired overall. I think it's because my projects keep switching up since they've been particularly quick. It's tough to get emotionally invested in those at times. Other times I get invested in a project and then it gets put on hold for months. I like consistency. I also understand it's part of life. Just sometimes it gets a little dull. I want to be more productive today because I wasn't yesterday. I'm gonna try. I don't need to go balls to the wall today. Just gotta do better than yesterday is all.

That makes perfect sense. Nobody is the same. I've seen people overwhelm themselves over the years on here so I just wanted to share. Good luck

Just be careful with these goals. They can be very intimidating and cause stress. Sometimes they'll feel like work. I tried this when I first started animation and it crushed me. I've got to a point now where I'm comfortable with my life and I do a hobby when I want because I want to do it. No end goals etc.

Are you officially dating this girl yet? Seems like a good match.