NEW VIDEO: I Quit MMOs and THIS Happened
BooksandTrees
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Posts posted by BooksandTrees
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3 hours ago, Wildermyth said:
Just finished editing a large batch of wonderful photos. Some of the best I've taken so far I think. Damn that feels great!
Good job! Did you go as a hobby or for work?
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On 1/6/2024 at 2:44 AM, Ikar said:
You also write, that should be on your hobby list too!
I also have a bunch of discarded hobbies: going to the gym (later Brazilian jiu jitsu, now I just go for walks), drumming, learning new languages, partying well into the night (lol), reading a lot of newsletters, giving English lessons for free and nearly joining a cult-like organization. I got to the last one through culture and volunteering, so it's definitely a good idea to beware of volunteering with strings attached!
Some of my current hobbies are: writing, reading, journaling here, my job and spending time with friends. I also occasionally go to the shooting range, play billiard, table football and organize student events with my geography group and blog.
I agree. I prefer working on my master's thesis every day for two or three hours maximum. I can't do any more after. I know some people write the whole thing in two weeks, while I take three months with my tempo. Everybody's different. Plus, if it's a hobby, there's generally no "right" way to do a hobby.
Very true! I think some people can just write like others play video games. Take Stephen King or James Patterson for example. They put out a book or two a year it seems. But we're not them and that's ok. As long as we appreciate what we're doing that's all that matters.
Also, it's amazing to see what we've tried as hobbies. I don't think many people understand that it takes forever most of the time lol.
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7 minutes ago, JuMpZ said:
Gouache! And thank you, I look forward to doing more!
Oh wow. I have no idea what gouache is lol.
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Nice painting! Is that oil or acrylic?
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35 minutes ago, Wildermyth said:
Thanks for the warning, it sounds exactly like the kind of harmful environment that I want to avoid right now. I already had problems with those kind of chat rooms when I gamed and it was one of the reasons why I felt that it had lost its meaning. I really do not understand why a group of guys online so often leads to just trash talk, memes and misogynistic stuff. It's embarrassing to say the least.
Yeah. A few members on here have had issues on the Discord and I just don't recommend it. I'm sure they'll let you know if they read this or you see their diary.
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7 minutes ago, Wildermyth said:
I've never been much for voice chatting, or talking on the phone for that matter. But how is it different from here and why wouldn't you recommend it?
Most of the people in there have relapsed and are not participating in quitting games. You can see what games they're playing on the right. Most people just post memes and shitpost others or go on there to talk badly. Or they just sit there and think they're socializing rather than going out and meeting people or doing another hobby. Some of them are nice and the moderators are great. It's just not a conducive place for recovery in my opinion.
Picture people playing video games and sitting on discord. Now picture them without gaming but they're still sitting on discord. A good portion are going to relapse and it's a negative environment.
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I woke up today feeling less lethargic than previous days. I started doing chores around the house and then prepared to write my writing coach an email explaining I've been too tired to write.
I then got frustrated with myself and started to write. I ended up writing over 1000 words, finishing a chapter, and sending her a positive progress update with a draft of my new chapter for her review.
Just because I'm good at writing and enjoying it as a hobby doesn't mean I can do it the same amount as I did with gaming. This is a mentally exhausting hobby and I need to accept that if I take a couple weeks off or a month off I'm not a failure. It just takes time.
Also, I wanted to compare writing to working out at the gym. If you over exert yourself at the gym you'll hurt yourself. It's exhausting and you can only do major body parts once or twice a week for bulking. Same concept for writing. Sometimes your mind can only handle once or twice a week. It doesn't mean that we don't like writing or the gym. That's just how it works for some people.
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1 hour ago, Pochatok said:
What makes video games fun to you, what addictive mechanics draw you in?
Progression, competition and winning, friendship and community, something to do without having to learn something new, collecting items, going after new goals, being high ranked, leading people.
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23 minutes ago, Wildermyth said:
Yeah, it's sure to be a neverending cycle. And when I tire of the offical F1 game I'm gonna gravitate towards other F1 games and they in turn come with other racing content that get me into new racing disciplines with new types of tracks and so on and so fort.
Man, sometimes I just wish that most of the people on this forum lived like an hour at most away from each other. It would be so nice just to hang out, talk about good stuff and deal with this whole ordeal together. It's so hard to find people irl who are going through this themselves, or at least have the ability to own up to it.
It is ok. I wouldn't recommend joining the discord btw. It's a way different environment than here. But at least you have some people here. It's a start.
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5 hours ago, JSmith said:
Day 2
I finished my degree, and my book. That's about all I have. Been unemployed 8+ months. I'm feeling largely apathetic to be honest. Just kinda went numb after some time, though I still put forth some effort here and there. My book is sitting in a pdf document on my laptop. I was going to find an agent, but I found myself in disfavor with the publishing industry, and decided to self-publish. Then I remembered how much I dislike social media marketing, or just social media in general. So now I don't know what to do. Or maybe I just don't think it's good enough to be worth the effort.
I was gaming, still. Not nearly to the degree as before my first detox, but enough to remain a problem. To be perfectly honest, I don't want to quit, not entirely. If it's possible to make it work, I would like to figure that out. But I can't right now. There's just...too much wrong. My body feels like it's falling apart. I'm terrified of surgery, but I need to do something.
I have a second story idea. I actually want to pivot to screenplays, as I've fallen in love with movies in my adult years, compared to the bookworm I was as a child. I'm terrified of that too. It's an ambitious idea, but I'm afraid of being well known, if it works. I have skeletons.
So I'm pretty crippled by anger, anxiety and fear currently. But I need to do something. I thought a couple days ago, what if I just took a year off gaming, and see what happens? I won't miss much, and I'll have the space and energy to figure out this job issue, and see if there's anything I want to do about this story. I really don't know yet, but boredom will force me to think about it.
You could try publishing on Amazon. That's what I'm doing with my book. They take care of a lot for you. You just gotta do the advertising. And I've been using a writing coach to peer review it.
Maybe if you broke the gaming break from 1 year down to 3 weeks you'll feel better. I noticed brain fog and lethargy go away after 2 weeks and you get a new frame of mind after. 3 weeks could be the base minimum and then keep going from there if you like how you're feeling.
Good luck with surgery.
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22 minutes ago, Wildermyth said:
I didn't have time to finish every track before I let go of it all and it's going to bother me for some time when watching the sport on tv. But it is what it is - I'm confident I'll get over it.
And don't forget, even if you completed all of the tracks, the competitive side in you might try to go for new personal bests or beating certain f1 racers. So you never know when that really ends. Plus there's new tracks being used like Vegas.
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1 hour ago, Wildermyth said:
Not sure what "booksandtrees" and HALTED are. Are they methods or litterature made for overcoming addiction? 🙂
Lol I'm books and HALTED stands for hungry, angry, lonely, tired, environment, and dehydration.
Those 6 words can have impacts on your mood and cause stress. Stress triggers gaming or things we use to resolve stress. So sometimes if you're feeling a craving, check to see if you're hungry, angry, thirsty, tired, lonely, or in a bad place mentally or physically. A lot of the time I'm dehydrated. Most of the time my trigger was environment. It's because I hated my work environment and my boss. So I quit my job and have much fewer cravings.
Just be careful that you don't solve all your issues with identifying hunger for example. Stress eating is another addiction. So just be mindful when you go through these.
A lot of time I recommend seeing a therapist and discussing why you play games, why they make you unhappy, why they make you happy, what you're missing in life, etc.
Always seek professional help and never try doing this alone in my opinion.
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On 1/1/2024 at 3:26 PM, Wildermyth said:
So I need some community input on how to proceed in regards to the sim racing. Technically the sim rig that I built is still in my possession since it's gonna take a while If I decide to sell it off. It's a rather expensive piece of equipment and I'm living in a part of my country where there's not a lot of buyers for this kind of stuff around.
I am thoroughly done with any other form of gaming, that's blatantly clear. The only salvation for the rig is to exclusively partake in F1 sims as that was my main reason from the beginning. My motivation then was to be able to have some kind of engagement with the real sport off-track in order to fully understand it and also make it an exercise of the body. It all went good until I started to mess with the boundries.
So is there any point in my trying to get back on the track that I began on or should I just abandon this all together? What resources could I use for my decision to go back and where should I look if I decide to just quit it all?
I tried only playing certain games and they're almost always a gateway back into old gaming habits or worse ones. I read how drug addicts start clean until they drink alcohol and then get drunk and start looking for drugs again. They can spiral.
If it were me I'd get rid of it. It's just tough because that gaming rig and F1 are a big portion of your current identity so it feels like you're abandoning yourself.
I was the best ea sports nhl player in the world for 3 years and it was tough to watch real hockey for a while. But it went away and I enjoy hockey now.
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I'm also going to sell my drum set. I want people to know that a lot of the hobbies I've tried have not stuck. The only things so far are reading, legos, cooking, puzzles, listening to music, and board games.
Rock climbing, boxing, beer league hockey, badminton, volleyball, animation, drawing, yoga, photography, billiards, woodworking, drums, gym, painting, brewing beer, podcasting, video editing, and a few other things have not worked.
It seems that I'm attempting mostly exercise or artistic things.
I haven't tried things such as a new language, volunteering, making furniture or clothes, etc.
Just keep in mind that it's sometimes painful to find replacement activities for video games and most of the time they're not nearly as fun. We're just in it for a healthier and balanced life without addiction.
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I just read about sugar withdrawal. I've eaten so much sugar this vacation from holiday candy. I haven't had it in 3 days and I'm just exhausted and having weird effects.
I didn't realize this, but sugar withdrawal symptoms can include dizziness, irritability, nausea, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, etc. I've been battling this a lot lately.
I'm gonna get back to a better diet and start there. I'll give this a couple weeks as the mayo clinic says it takes 2 to 3 weeks to regulate if you've cut sugar and certain foods.
Worth a shot.
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I had a lot of bad dreams last night. One was me fighting my dad, one was me getting my bike stolen, one was me losing friends, one was my old runescape account getting hacked and I was sacrificing everything to get it back, one where my town was getting invaded in a war and they used my house as shelter to fight, one where I had a tenant as a landlord but she left because she didn't like the candles in the living room lol.
Just exhausting waking up after that.
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3 hours ago, Pochatok said:
Ah shoot, I feel the same way! Have not written anything for a week now, and feel so uninclined to return. Knowing that you share my struggles is encouraging- I will go ahead and write for a bit now!
Wishing for passion-building habits coming your way (and passion alongside them) ❤️
Thank you! It's odd because I would normally associate this with depression but I really believe I'm not depressed and letting myself relax a lot as I recover fom burn out.
Thanks for the well wishes and I'm glad this could encourage you.
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I haven't written anything in weeks and am losing my drive for it. I feel like I'm in a holding pattern of doing nothing. I don't feel depressed though and I'm not burnt out anymore. I can't really describe it. I'm just complacent to do nothing.
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14 hours ago, Amphibian220 said:
Need to better understand how to handle work issues.
A new trainee at work whom I have the task of showing the ropes is refusing to do some of the essentials because he has heard of other trainees who were not obliged to do so.
The other trainees some of whom have since resigned and others progressed to higher roles don't justify this kind of behaviour, but this trainee will sabotage work and take as an example the most passive workers. It looks like a race to the bottom.
Then as I accepted refusal to do some things, this trainee refused a new round of tasks on the same grounds. The more I conceded, the more passive he became.
I want to throw him out of my organization because I will most likely embarass myself in front of my manager.
I'd let your manager know asap because if you don't then the manager is going to ask why you let it go so long. He'll give you tips and if those don't work he'll step in.
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15 hours ago, Icandothis said:
Hi!!!
It’s been forever, but decided to check the forum! So glad you had a happy holidays!
Glad to see you still posting and joyful you are doing well!!!
Hey! Great to see you! How are you doing?? Thanks for checking in!!
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I'm on vacation and it's going well. Did some celebrating with family and got cool gifts. I've spent the past few days watching movies, building legos, cooking food, and doing my annual doctor appointments. I've been drawing a bit too and scheduled some work for my house.
After this I'd like to write and read a bit more and exercise a little. I've had to delay exercise because I injured nt groin unfortunately. But it's getting better.
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Welcome to the forums. Good luck on this journey and hopefully you can find some help through the process here.
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Merry Christmas! Thanks for the gift of support this year! It really helps keep me going strong.
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I'm still ashamed of my weight. I started tracking my calories again.
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The Road to happiness and satisfaction
in Daily Journals
Posted · Edited by BooksandTrees
Great job quitting discord. Embrace this discomfort. Most clubs are looking to recruit new members so they're going to be as nice as possible to you. Keep that in mind.
When I was in college I joined a board game club that was nice but I also joined a professional society for engineering and started doing homework with my classmates. It improved my GPA and I made friends.