ElectroNugget

DAY 02: The morning was rough again. Definitely the worst part of the day for me. Perhaps worth looking into some morning routines. Then again, I've never been a morning person. I finished up the last modules and worksheets today and that felt awesome. Cam's advice is solid and makes me feel like there's genuine hope for change. I started meditating again today, which was really nice. I honestly have no idea why I ever give up on it. It comes and goes in periods and each time I pick it up again the advantages are clear and more than worth the time invested. I also went to the gym, so overall a good day for health and fitness too. I'm already pining for some time with Civilization. It's hard to think that I will never play it again but I know it is necessary. In time I'm sure I'll be grateful for investing my hours elsewhere. Exercise: ✔️ Meditate: ✔️ Gratitude: I'm grateful that I have some good friends who got me into the gym routine. I'm grateful that my body is healthy and strong enough to pursue bodybuilding without any complications. I'm grateful that I have a nice place to go home to after a long day's work. I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to learn new skills online. I'm grateful that I have this forum to write to and seek support.

Hey man. About your friends, I can relate! I've had friends who've criticized me and my decisions to improve myself in the same way in the past when I tried to give up gaming, porn, and the internet before. I think their criticism came from a place of wanting to drag me back to their level, so they wouldn't have to reflect on their own bad habits. People can be really shit like that sometimes. Remember that Cam says in his videos that you don't have to explain yourself to anyone! I think that's important to remember when 'friends' like that test you. I've learned to cut people like that out of my life, or at least to minimize my exposure to them. After all, if your friend doesn't want the best for you, what kind of friend are they?

Just read through this dude great to see your progress! Keep it up! Super cool getting that A on your exam. ? Do you feel like the miracle morning has been helpful? It's something I've heard about but not tried.

Thanks, James. ? I think the 'former gamer' idea is great. I might steal that. I'm going to try not only to track my game quitting progress here but also some other habits I want to do. It seems to make sense to keep my accountability all in one place. DAY 01: Today was tough. Last year I suffered from a severe bout of clinical depression and was on medication for a few months while I was unemployed. I was about as low as one could go: panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, the works. This year I'm once again unemployed (classic starving artist problem) and I find myself falling down the same mental whirlpool of despair. I really don't want to go back on medication though, which is why I decided that I had to start making some serious changes in my life, like this program. That said, I woke up this morning in a very depressive mindset, wondering if I would ever make it, or if my life was just completely fucked and I should just give up and die. Things improved when I got to my office space (I have a desk at a creative incubator). I went through modules 1-5 of the program and felt like the message was hopeful, and that the changes were doable. As of this evening, I have had all the passwords for my online gaming accounts (steam, battlenet, etc.) changed by my mother and she holds the keys now. All that's left to do is sell my PS4 and my Switch, but at the moment they are tucked away out of use anyways, so it's not a huge hurry. I feel like that took a big weight off me and that I managed to accomplish a lot today. I also feel like I have more time, which is great. So maybe this is the beginning of a turnaround for me. I set up a calendar for the next 90 days (as recommended in the program) and decided I want to work on many habits in that period, as well as a new art portfolio. Putting a timeframe on it makes it seem more concrete and somehow more doable. Before now I felt like I had so much to do and no time, that everything was chaos. Now that it's spread out on a calendar it doesn't look nearly as intimidating. After today I feel much less overwhelmed by the current state of my life and like I can maybe achieve what I set out to do given the right time management and planning. Tomorrow I'd like to finish the program and start taking the first steps with my new portfolio. I'd also like to start meditating again. Hopefully, this is really the start of a new chapter for me. Gratitude: I'm grateful that I have a roof over my head. I'm grateful that my parents have been so supportive during this very difficult time for me. I'm grateful that I have a healthy body (if not a healthy mind). I'm grateful that I had a lot of good food today. I'm grateful that I have this opportunity to change.

Hi there. So I just bought and started the program today. This is something that I've known I needed to do for a few years I think, but have been too afraid to do for a long time. Gaming was such an integral part of my identity - who I was, what I was good at, what I enjoyed, etc - that the idea of sacrificing it to accomplish other goals quite literally made me afraid. When I decided to become an artist in my early 20's it became a constant battle between the two for my time and commitment, and sadly gaming won most of the time. I'm now in my late 20's, suffering from a dip in my career and other personal aspects of my life and I have to be honest with myself and admit that my habits and choices leading up to this moment have put me here. It's my own damn fault. If I don't quit now, I'll never reach the potential I think I have, and I'll never be able to live my life with my head held high. I can't bear the thought of that. So here I am. I'm going to call this Day 0 since I did play a little bit this morning before I started the program. Tomorrow will be Day 1. My computer, iPad and phone have all been wiped of games, and I'm looking into some software to help as well. I hope I can do this.

Thanks for the feedback guys, it's very helpful. There have been times where I got obsessed with a character idea outside of the game and spent a lot of time on it needlessly, I suppose it's just important to be mindful of how and when you are spending the time.

I'm just starting out and honestly, very eager to let go of videogames. I feel like they have indirectly led to a lot of the problems I have in my life. I will, of course, miss them, but at the same time, I can see the value in spending my time elsewhere. That said, I'm curious how people feel about tabletop games such as DnD and other board games. When I first started trying to quit a few years ago on my own, I began to play more board games as a way to try and still game a bit but in a healthier way with real social interaction, events and a limited time frame (since I can't get other players to sit around for 15 hours with me). Right now they make up a not insignificant part of my life, as I have slowly transitioned from daily videogaming to weekly DnD meetups, but I am prepared to let go of them as well if they are a problem. Does anyone have any feelings/experiences with this? Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks.

Hi there. My name is John and I've been a hardcore/chronic gamer since I was about six years old, when I first discovered Red Alert. I was never a very athletic kid, and I grew up in a conservative environment where athleticism was highly valued. Few subjects at school interested me, except for Drama, Art and History, so I was the quintessential nerd in what felt like an athlete's world. As I became increasingly disillusioned with the real world, I expanded into every field of gaming I could find, including FPS, RPG and racing games. If the experience was new and well-crafted, I wanted to try it. As a result, they took up more and more of my time and left less and less time to develop other areas of my life. Locked in a vicious cycle, I turned more and more to gaming to relieve my feeling of social isolation and my inability to achieve on the sports field, or to find a girlfriend. During my teenage years, the internet and porn became further addictions that drew me further and further away from interacting with the real world and figuring out how to socialize with people properly. Despite this, I had a massive growth spurt in my late teens and finally found some self-acceptance to the point that I was fairly popular - but I still went home and spent most of my time on gaming, feeling like the real fun was to be had in cyberspace. In my 20's, even though I was apparently becoming more well-adjusted my gaming and internet addiction continued to interfere with my life. Despite having some lovely girlfriends over the years, I was unsatisfied with them and in hindsight, I feel I treated them poorly and didn't give them enough time compared to gaming, porn and my new found social status in university. I studied art with the intention to work on games as a concept artist one day, but even there my game addiction has stymied my progress as I spend more time gaming than honing my artistic skills. Now I find myself in a difficult stage in life after a painful breakup of a long term relationship, the sudden death of a close friend of mine who was also an artist (and a lot better than me) and struggling to land a job in the very volatile games industry. Last year I was diagnosed as clinically depressed and while I am no longer on medication and doing much better now, I feel the possibility of sinking into that pit again is never far off. I feel I have to reinvent myself now or else I will become embittered and depressed, perhaps forever, and not be able to lead the kind of life I want to lead. I hope this program can help with that. If you read this all, thanks! I hope we can make it together. Cheers.

That sounds very tough man! Hopefully with this community you can find a way through this.