dirac

Day 4 -> failure ! gamed for 3 hours So today was sunday which is my non uni day that I usually spend with my girlfriend. It was a nice day but my girlfriend was gone for about 3 hours today which I used to game. The gaming experience itself was really bad. First I wanted to play some warcraft 3 custom games but people kept leaving in every game which just made me furious after a while. Then I decided to play a round of dota 2 which usually doesnt have leavers because you get punished for it. But half of my team were complete assholes. They just complained and threw out report threats and stuff. Today showed me again why the online game community is considered so horrible. There are just so many horrible people among online gamers. I feel like in online games you get away with a lot of stuff that would never happen in reality. Later I went to the gym and had a really nice workout. One or two days ago I kind of had a big realisation. For this entire semester I struggled with motivation for uni which was so strange because I am usually super motivated and excited about it. But then I realised that this semester I only have computer science courses. No physics at all because I only need to do those 2 computer science courses to finish my bachelor. And to be honest computer science is kind of cool but I just dont enjoy it nearly as much as phyics. So I realised its not that surprising that I am not super motivated because I just dont enjoy what I am doing right now as much as I used to. But well I have to finish those two courses and then in the masters I will have a lot of physics again. I cant even wait for that to happen. On the first of february I will start studying for my computer science exams. My computer will be gone by then and I will study as hard as possible to make sure I am done with computer science and can finally do physics again!

Day 1 , Day 2 , Day 3 -> success ! I didnt manage to post because I was super busy and also wasnt home on thursday. But its going really well. I managed to stay game free for 3 days now, mostly because there wasnt really anytime to game. I feel like I am also getting better in terms of my motivation for uni and my gaming cravings. On wednesday I actually gamed quite a bit but I did more uni stuff than I actually wanted to which I see as a huge win. I actually called my dad who lives in a city close to mine and we made a deal that he will take my computer next saturday and not bring it back until the exams are over. This will be the ultimate opportunity for me to stay game free. Until then I will see if I game or not, but then stuff is getting serious.

Day 4 -> failure ! Gamed for 3 hours So today I failed. I slept really bad last night, woke up like 10 times. I was really done and tired the whole day, and when I went to uni to study with a friend we were both super unmotivated and I just couldnt concentrate very well because I was so tired. So I just went home after lunch and played games. Then my girlfriend came by and the rest of the day was really nice. I do have to say it was still a pretty good day but I am starting to get a little pissed at myself because of how unproductive I have been this semester. Still motivated for the no game though, gonna get right back at it

Day 3 -> success! Today was really good. I went to uni , went to my lectures was productive for more than hour before them so I did uni stuff for 6 hours today which is pretty solid. Then I went to the gym and had a really amazing workout. I actually enjoy working out more and more. I cant wait to work out again on wednesday! Today I also had an interesting realisation. I believe one of the reasons why I havent been as motivated and energetic and happy this semester is because I am not very good at anything. Because of my back problems I havent been to my martial arts club in a while and that is something that always makes me feel really good about myself. Because I love doing it and I am good at it. Being good at stuff makes you feel confident also in other situations. One more thing I am really good at is theoretical physics. Which is also something I dont have this semester. Iam stuck with my last two courses of the bachelor and they are both computer science. They are interesting and I enjoy them but I am just not very good at them ( so far ). So all the things that gave me confidence, that I was really good at last semester are gone. And I believe this is one reason for why I just dont feel as awesome and motivated this semester. My idea how to tackle this is the following: I will put more work into my two computer science courses atleast for the last 3 weeks of the semester and then to prepare for the exam. So I will become good at that! I will also from now on make sure that I always attend one course per semester that I know I will enjoy and be good at. And I will continue to go to the gym and do my bodyweight training because I am starting to get good at that too. And if I am lucky I might be able to do martial arts again quite soon! The no gaming is quite difficult for me at the moment. I am just struggling to find stuff to do in the evening. I feel like reading is too much work, netflix is kind of boring and youtube is pretty much the same as mindless browsing to me right now. But I will stay strong!

@WhatAboutToday? thank you ! If you are interested in how it goes you can come again some time 🙂 Day 2 -> success! Today was really great. It was sunday which is my uni free day. I spent the entire day with my girlfriend, we had a really nice breakfast and then we went to the gym together. After that we had lunch/dinner, talked for a while and then watched a movie. Nothing special happened but it was really wholesome. Having a day like this once a week is so good! Oh and by the way I didnt talk about sugar anymore in my last posts. So the intense sugar craving went away after about 7-10 days. By now I dont have any "need" for sweet stuff anymore. Sometimes after a meal I wouldnt mind a dessert but the cravings are completely gone. I feel pretty good healthwise so far and the neck pain is also gone. A couple of days ago I bought like a huge calendar that displays the entire year at once with a little space for every day. I started writing down certain things on that calender like how I felt on a scale from 1-10, how productive I was, if I did sport and my no gaming streak. So far I feel like this was a great idea. For instance I often feel like I remember how I felt much worse than it actually was and being able to look at the week/day and see the number I gave it really helps. I also feel much better to be honest when I rate how I feel on a scale from 1-10 because sometimes I whine a lot about how I feel but when I have to put it on a scale from 1-10 I realise that I am basically at a 6-7 which is pretty solid I think. And its also nice to see how much sport I have done so far this year, this might sometimes give me the push I need! This week I really want to make sure I stay game free. I also want to do sport 4 times and want to be really productive for uni. But I think forcing myself to study for a certain amount of time everyday ends up being more stressful than motivating so I will focus more on actually achieving stuff!

Day 1 -> success! @WhatAboutToday? Thanks for your reply, it actually really helped me to not game today. I read it last night in bed and it got me thinking. I also realised that even if I am just watching netflix instead of gaming in the beginning it is still better than gaming. I will try my best from now on to stay away from gaming even if I still just waste my time completely. Yesterday I played for 6 hours without barely moving around or getting up from the chair and very poor posture. Today I had neckpain basically the entire day. Stuff like this is the reason why gaming is such a bad thing because it really destroys you on multiple fronts. I socialise less, my health is in poor condition , my uni career is not nearly going as good as it could, I often skipped going to the gym because of it, it makes me feel bad emotionally.... the list goes on and on. Today was a great day because I didnt game. I am very happy that I managed to stay off of it. I will take this no gaming serious as fuck now!

Day 1 -> success / Day 2 -> failure! gamed for about 6 hours At the moment I am really struggling with gaming. But mostly because I dont really want to stop I just kinda want to stop. Im still able to do my uni stuff and go to sports but as soon as I am home I basically just dont leave the computer anymore. Im mostly struggling with finding alternatives to gaming. Other than netflix or youtube. Sport is not really and alternative because I am not doing it at home, I cant do it everyday and its also not very relaxing. So far I always tried to replace gaming with something productive but of course that cant work because then it doesnt fulfill my needs anymore. I mean there is a reason why I game at night and not read uni stuff. Both days were pretty cool though.

Another day -> failure ! gamed for 6 hours Today was nice. I felt really good again, even went to the gym and had a great workout. I also went for a walk with my girlfriend for an hour in the sun it was really nice. Overall a great day so to speak. But I also planned to do quite some stuff for uni which I wanted to do at home. But at the moment I cant work from home. Im just too hooked on gaming at the moment. Tomorrow I will start the no gaming again. The last week went so well for me. I felt good and was super productive and since I started gaming again it didnt go so well for me.... I mean I am enjoying it, I played because I wanted to play but It looks like its not working. Im becoming lazy and unproductive again. So tomorrow no gaming !

Another day -> failure ! gamed for about 6 hours Today was horrible. I felt like complete shit physically. I slept for about 8 hours and 30 minutes and I felt so bad. I could hardly focus on anything at uni today and the bike ride home that I have taken almost everyday for more than a year felt sooo exhausting. I really wanted to go to the gym but I just didnt manage to go because I felt so week. And because I felt that bad I just gamed all evening. I dont even feel bad about it though because when I feel like this there is just nothing else I want to do. I just really hope I will feel better tomorrow....

Day 10 -> failure ! -> played for 3 hours So today I gamed. It was a more or less conscious decision. I woke up with a migraine because apparently the week was to stressful. I already felt it yesterday that I overdid it but today I had to pay the price I guess. Was basically laying around most of the day and while my girlfriend went to the gym I played some warcraft 3 reforged. But I honestly dont feel that bad about it. I just still havent found anything that is as relaxing to me as gaming or that provides an escape as gaming. I mean I am already meditating every evening for about 20-30minutes but this might just not cut it. I also skipped going to the gym because of my migraine. I talked about gaming with my girlfriend today and I kind of realised that I dont know if I really want a life without gaming at all. I think at some point in my life it is gonna happen, like when we have children latest but to be honest my ideal relationship with gaming is that I can play for a couple of hours here and there without neglecting other parts of my life. This week for example I managed to not game at all (except of today) but instead I was watching 2+ hours of netflix every evening. I think productivity has its limits and when you come after 8 hours of uni and a workout you just dont want to spend your time on something productive. And in the end if I have to decide between watching netflix for 2 hours or gaming for 2 hours I would pick gaming any day because it just gives me so much more. I mean last year I managed to have a very healthy and reasonable relationship with gaming for the first 6 months without even thinking about it. From now on I will try to establish something like this again. What is reasonable though is the question? I think playing everyday for instance is too much. I think the best way to start this is to record my game time really exactly. I will of course continue to post in the forum everyday post what I played and how many hours and how I feel about it. So apart from gaming this week was actually pretty awesome but in the end it was too much. I think I will go home an hour earlier from now on especially if I plan to workout otherwise its just way too stressful. Because its also pretty difficult to be productive for 8 hours everyday because I am actively studying. I think I still have a lot to learn about how much of what is really good for me.

Day 9 -> success ! But it was a horrible day. Really horrible. I think I overworked myself a little this week. It would have been fine if I had just taken a break today but I wanted to go to uni to work for 5-6 more hours. So I went to uni but I already felt a little burned out as soon as I started working. Even though the project I was working on really interests me I felt bad the entire time. I just felt exhausted physically and mentally. On top of that nothing at all worked today. I didnt achieve anything at all in the entire day so I decided to just call it a day and go home after 3 hours. After dinner I also felt really bad. I think its from the stress I put on myself this week. I guess there is a point to having a weekend and I will try to find a little more chill approach. Maybe I will just work from home on wednesday or go home from uni at 5 everyday and work saturdays a little more. I just know that I have to do something. Today was also the first time I experienced cravings to game. It was also the first day where I felt bad. Gaming was my absolute go to activity when I was sick or felt bad. I just really dont like experiencing those feelings and gaming was the best way to escape them. I havent really found any activity that can replace gaming as my escape but we will see, maybe I can find something else. Another approach would be to just not feel like this in the first place but I dont know if that approach makes a lot of sense because its not fully under my control. Well well lets see lets see.

Day 8 -> success ! Today was another really great day. I woke up a little later than usual, 8:45 instead of 8:30 because me and my girlfriend went to bed late but I was still super productive and stayed at uni for seven and a half hours. I felt really great, was very focused and productive and in a pretty good mood! So far this week has been pretty insane. I worked 40 hours so far and gonna put in a couple more tomorrow and worked out 3 times. I really want to keep it up ! I am going to workout again on sunday and also make sunday a uni/work free day. Today I really struggled with going to the gym though because it was late and I felt lazy but I managed to pull myself together and go anyway and it was one of the best workouts I had in quite some time. Its just fascinating how working out always feels best when you were not really up for it. I can really say I am very happy with how my life is going right now. But next week I want to see my girlfriend more often because I didnt see her enough this week. The gym and work life are going great so far!

Day 7 -> success ! Gonna keep it short because I want to sleep: - didnt feel as great as yesterday -still stayed at uni till 6 -was very productive -went to gymnastics for the first time (because im still not allowed to do martial arts and weight lifting) -enjoyed it , worked on handstand mostly -> no gaming cravings good day!

Day 6 -> success ! @Amphibian220 Hey I am glad to hear that 🙂 which part inspired you ? The no sugar part? So for me the whole day was definitely a major victory ! I spent 9 hours at uni, being focused for like 80% of the time. I got a lot done and I felt really good when I went home. Next week I will try to stay for 10 hours for one day. And all the effects of the no sugar I described are still present. Didnt get tired at all felt energised the whole day! And motivated aswell! When I went home at 7 I still felt great, I went straight to buy groceries and ended the productive part of my day at 8 which is pretty awesome. The no gaming is also still going great! I cant even imagine gaming at the moment because there is so much stuff I rather want to do! Like workout or read or study or spend time with my girlfriend! Really feeling blessed! But my lower back problems apeared again today, I dont care though. Im gonna foam roll everyday and gonna call a specialist tomorrow morning so I can get this fixed asap!

Day 5 -> success! @ElectroNugget I can definitely recommend it so far ! We are not doing it super extrem though. We still eat fruit and drink juice without added sugars. But its definitely hard so far. The sugar cravings are like much more intense than the gaming cravings ! But its also very beneficial I have so much energy I dont even know where to put it. I feel like I could workout everyday and I just dont get that tired anymore. And I am hungry all the time its kind of fun. My girlfriend reports the same things so far and we are both in a much better mood aswell! Lets see how the rest of the month goes though I hope it doesnt get bad at some point And I think its a good idea to post daily even if its just one sentence I will do that 🙂 The no gaming is going really well I dont have any cravings and I dont even have the time at the moment because I am quite busy and when Im home I rather watch netflix or read something 🙂

Day 3 & 4 -> success ! Sadly I didnt manage to post yesterday, but I will try to do it everyday. I feel like it really gives me a lot. It helps to reflect and also visit how far you have come so far. Yesterday was pretty cool spend most of the day with my girlfriend, even went to the gym together which was also fun, shes kind of starting to workout so its nice to see her picking it up and Im kind of interested how it will effect her. It always made me feel a lot better about myself. Not in terms of looks but mostly because it gives you more confidence and you just feel stronger. Today was my first day of uni this year. It didnt go as well as I hoped but it was still cool. I am definitely happy that the holidays are over now and I can get back at it. I also went to the gym again today which I am very proud of because its the first time since months that I went on 2 days in a row. My girlfriend and I have been doing a no sugar challenge since january 1. and so far I feel really amazing. I have so much energy I dont even know where to put it. Its fascinating. My mood is also much better and I dont feel as horrible anymore when I am hungry. If I will continue to feel this good for the rest of the month I am considering not eating sugar ever again because its pretty lit. Tomorrow I want to make sure I stay at uni longer and be more focused. The goal is to leave the house at 9 so I am at uni around 9:30 and stay at uni till exactly 18:00 . Unless I am already done with my computer science exercise but thats unlikely. I like how I am starting with quite some momentum into this year. I also really believe in the no gaming !

Ah I see that makes a lot of sense! It did clear up the confusion indeed ?

Day 2 -> success! I dont really understand what you mean Amphibian, what does move in the direction of securities mean? And I also dont understand the idea of thinking you are in a game? So day 2 was really nice I spent some time reading and felt pretty good throughout the day. Sadly I spent too much time on youtube which I will decrease from now on. I still have this mindset that watchin a documentary is something I consider productive but if we are honest its not much different from watching a show on netflix. Today I will start doing uni stuff again and tomorrow I will officialy start the exam preparation phase. I will talk about day 3 later tonight when its actually is done ?

Day 1 -> success! Today I didnt game. It was a really great day I could finish a lot of stuff on my to do list and I somehow feel really confident in the no gaming. I had no neck pain at all today which is great. I felt pretty decent and happy the entire day. The coming weekend will be a very productive uni weekend. Two days ago I did my new years goals together with my girlfriend. We spent 5 hours talking about our goals and how the last year went it was really amazing. Today I revisited the list I made with her and wrote it on a big piece of paper and put it on my wall. I have so many goals on that list that make me feel really amazing. Looking at it actually gives me a push. I feel motivated and confident and I will do everything I can to keep this up. 2019 was basically my best year so far and 2020 will be way better because I learned from my mistakes and I will rock this year!

Hi guys so I wasnt here for a while as you can guess I gamed the shit out of the last couple of days. It all started when I went back home after christmas. I got quite severe neck pain and headache for a reason I dont know yet. For the first 2 days it lasted I just layed in bed and watched netflix. Stayed clean so to say. The neck pain was just too bad to game anyway. But after it got slightly better I felt too bad to do anything productive and was sick of netflix so I just told myself some stupid reasons and lies about why its ok to game now. And I just come from a 8 hour gaming session. So again its time to quit. I find it really weird that I have no problem to do stuff with my girlfriend or go to uni or whatever but as soon as I am home and feel bored/ dont know what to do I am craving games like hell and once I started its just soooo hard to stop. I just uninstalled all my games and tomorrow morning I will put my second upstairs because my 2 screen setup also triggers me way too much. I will read the respawn guide again starting tomorrow and I also downloaded like a day counting app that I will use daily to motivate myself. Its really hard to quit when you enjoy gaming that much. But I guess thats kind of the case with every addiction. But I am 25 now and I think its about time I get my life in order. So starting today with day 0.

Day 3 , 4 and 5 So I didnt post much because its christmas and I didnt find the time yesterday. There is not much to say about gaming because as I already mentioned I have no opportunity to play here so its not that hard to stay sober. Christmas has been pretty nice so far. Great food, great gifts(like really great) and nice quality family time. I called my uncle yesterday to wish him merry christmas and the talk made me quite sad. He has cancer since a few months and he probably doesnt have that much time left on this earth. I mean he is already over 70 years old but what makes me sad is basically his whole life. He is one of the smartest people I know, sometimes I feel like hes kind of a genius, he has very interested mind. He also paints very well. He is just an overall fascinating person. But because back in the day you were not allowed to chose your job, you just did what your parents did he was not allowed to go to university he had to take over his fathers smith. He never wanted to do that he always wanted to become a history teacher. And he always hated doing it but there was no way out. Eventually he delevoped a depression because of that. Seeing this smart man who always had a love for history and art and philosophy being refused the life he wanted and in the end dying to cancer is just so sad to me. It also makes me realise how lucky I am. That I can do what I love and have the opportunity to express myself the way I see fit. I feel like I owe it to him and basically his whole generation to be more grateful about the fact that I can do that. I feel a little guilty that I sometimes complain about having to do stuff that I dont wanna do while some people live the whole life like this. I got quite some cool science books that I am really eager to read. I want to read them so much that whenever I got the opportunity and started to read. Im feeling pretty good and I am quite excited about this no gaming still. I really want to see what I am capable of and I will never find out as long as I still game.

Day 1 and 2: So yesterday, saturday was my first day of not gaming. It went well because I had kind of a lot to do. I started packing and we prepared for the christmas party with our flatmates. I thougt about gaming here and there but there wasnt any time or opportunity to play anyways. The christmas party was really cool. I really love my flatmates. They are kind of like family to me. I had quite some red wine though so I had a little hangover this morning which brings us to day 2. Day 2 started really nice, I had breakfast with my girlfriend and my flat mates. After that I finished packing and went to my parents house. Now the nexr couple of days it will be quite easy to not game because I just dont have the opportunity here. This will give me a nice headstart of about a week I guess. I am also really looking forward to christmas. Spending time with my family, not having anything to do for a few days and maybe even some cool gifts. I really have some much hope in my 90 day quitting. I have been gaming for basically my entire life and put every free minute into gaming from 12-18 years. I usually didnt feel bad about it because I was kind of happy while doing it but now that I am 25 I start to look at my life and realise how much I could have done, what I could have acomplished, who I could be today if I had put that time into something else. And the older I get the more depressing this thougt will become. I really want to see what I am capable of, how happy I can be without gaming.

Has anyone of the quitters who has been clean for a while noticed a change in their ability to focus on tasks like reading or an increased attention span in general?

Oh I just realised I didnt post at all yesterday. At the moment I am in kind of weird place because I know I will quit gaming for atleast 90 days as soon as I go to my parents house this sunday. So I basically just game hardcore at the moment knowing thats its basically the last opportunity for me to game for a long time maybe forever. I am kind of doing this to get sick of it so its easier to quit but also because I just really dont want to do anything else. Im looking forward to this no gaming so much I cant even tell. I think its gonna make my live so much better. 2019 was the day I quit masturbation 2020 will be the year I quit gaming!!

Yeah I see your point. I actually realised I wont be able to play over the christmas holidays anyway so I am gonna stop gaming this sunday. Im actually planing to stay away from games forever though. This 90 day thing is more of a plateau I want to reach.