BooksandTrees

I also realized I'm almost at 100k views in my diary. I'm really appreciative of all of your support over the years and wouldn't be here without you. Thank you.

This weekend I hit 140 weeks without gaming. I'm relaxing a bit and took the week off. I'm going to do some animation or writing tomorrow. Work has been boring. I have kind of lost my interest and wonder if I should be a teacher or something. I'll keep investigating.

No worries! I love your input and agree. There's a difference between process and progress. I like this approach a lot better.

Last weekend I hit 139 weeks. It's been a pretty up and down set of weeks regarding work and hobbies. I'm really doing a lot better now. Painting has become a prime stress relief although I now have too many paintings lol. Maybe I'll make an etsy store or something. I've had issues with eating too much ice cream to deal with stress so I've switched to buying cool whip. I know it's stupid but it's about 10% of the calories so if I end up struggling once per week I won't be reading 1500 calories. So I've actually lost a pound because of it. I'm going to try animating this weekend. I'm taking 9 days off so I'm excited. I'm also going to start working 2 days in the office per week so I can not be as isolated. I think isolation is making me more depressed. My middle finger will be healed soon so I can rock climb again soon.

I really like this take on things.

I struggled with cravings today but they were less than the past week. I decided to paint instead and I'm very happy with what I painted.

I suggest finding a therapist to help diagnose why you're trying to use games as a coping mechanism. Are you escaping from something? I encourage you to take notes every time you're craving games and trying to figure out what is triggering them. It might put a puzzle together for you. Some things that relax me instead of gaming are puzzles, exercise, reading, music, drawing, painting, singing, rock climbing, and writing.

I think I was upset because all of the people I went to school with are getting their licenses for engineering and I have failed twice. It really bothers me.

I feel better now. I had a wonderful conversation with my girlfriend and feel happier.

Yeah. I agree. I had an issue with anxiety about my relationship and wanted to escape for a few hours and instantly my mind went to crave video games. But I was able to get into a new room and environment and clear my mind. I discovered I was tired. Cravings disappeared once I went to bed.

It turns out I was really tired. I just went to a quiet room and did nothing and suddenly got very tired and went to bed and didn't relapse or anything. I find being tired can cause cravings.

I really miss video games recently. I'm not sure what it is.

I feel kind of feverish for some reason and I don't know why. It concerns me with all the covid stuff. But I haven't really left the house much so maybe it's a digestive thing or an infection from something. Terrible. Hopefully it's nothing.

Tomorrow I'll be 138 weeks free from gaming. It's frustrating sometimes. I feel like I've come a long way and sometimes the mind tricks me into wanting to play again. It goes to show you that even at 2.5 years without gaming you still face cravings. It's just a matter of control at this point. I remind myself of the unhappiness that gaming brought me and the stability I have now and it helps offset the cravings. Work is going well. I'm enjoying it a lot more now than I was last week after changing some things that I had in mind. I'm also meditating after work a bit and just laying with my eyes closed without falling asleep. I think I just gotta work at meal prep now and I'll be in a better spot.

You too. Maybe you can set reminders on your phone every 2 hours to drink water if you forget?

Welcome to the forums. I think most people's goals on here are to quit porn and masturbation along with gaming and social media. I definitely think it's important to do one at a time. I have a post somewhere in the celebration forums for 500 days without gaming and explain how I did it. That might be beneficial to you.

I feel better today after a good night's sleep and a nice breakfast. I also started today off by drinking a glass of water. I think it's important to do that and just get your system functioning nicely.

Thanks. We will see next month!

I really miss video games tonight. I'd love to casually zone out and play. But I go to bed in 1 hour. I'm just tired. This is how I handle the craving.

I have not yet. I think I'd like to do that this year as well. I might do it this week even.

This weekend I made it to 137 weeks free from gaming. It was a very busy weekend and I don't really feel well but I'm happy still. Just a lack of sleep I think. I did hobbies too.

Nah, I'm just gonna talk to my bosses about certain tasks and stuff so they understand what is happening since a few other people mentioned to me that they're experiencing the same frustration. Maybe we can fix it.

I think I'm sort of unhappy with my career again. Idk.

I had a few people request some art projects from me after they saw my stuff. I'm pretty excited.

I haven't felt well today and it has made me want to play video games. I obviously won't but it's interesting that it just makes me want to play or something. I do miss the games I used to play but I have been doing more hobbies and slowing life down which is nice.