Tetsuo1985

I had 6 months of no games before the covid shutdowns. Then I went back to it for a month or 2. Now I've been off games for 5 and a half months. I still consume gaming content every day. I watch reviews, analyses, streams and gameplay videos. I'm basically constantly on the edge of relapse. I don't have much hope that there's some destination happiness for me in the future. I just try not to fuck things up and make things worse than they have to be. I want to try gaming again, even if I have to quit again. It's hard to let go of something that was such a source of wonder and excitement for me in the past. I don't think I can get that feeling back and that's what sucks. I'm accepting that life is just shit and it actually makes me feel good to let go of the tension within myself that says if I can just get certain material things in life that everything will be okay. We're all constantly decaying and dying. There's unavoidable suffering in every moment. I know gaming will make that suffering worse. But it's tempting as an idea of a momentary escape.

I'd say it's always better to play it safe if you've decided that you have an addiction and are serious about wanting to quit. It might reopen that neural pathway enough that you'll be back in the addiction before you know it. I apply the same logic to alcohol (I have been sober for about 2 years). I don't mess around with non-alcoholic beer because I had a bad experience with it in early sobriety. If you have identified video games as a destructive force in your life, as in it takes away much more than it gives you, it's not really a smart thing to test the waters with moderation or making an exception for an educational game. This is just my opinion obviously, but it does come from someone who is experienced in overcoming addiction. Good luck, Tetsuo

Greetings to the forum. I'm a 27 year old and I'm 2 months video game free. I decided to quit gaming because it was pretty much the only thing I was doing other than work, which was really robbing me of any chance to better myself or my situation. I was mainly into playing online games that lent themselves to an endless grind like GTA Online and Elder Scrolls Online. It hasn't been tooooooo hard so far, but I have had a couple days that have been particularly tempting and I almost caved. Rainy days just seem to be the perfect time to play a bit. But I'm pretty sure if I opened that door, I'd be off to the races again. I already quit alcohol and drugs almost 2 years ago and video games became my substitute addiction. This hasn't been as hard, but I do have to deal with confronting uncomfortable emotions that I was using video games to distract myself with. It actually felt really good at the beginning. I was enjoying getting back into reading and feeling more connected to the world. Unfortunately my father passed away about 3 weeks ago, so that's been an emotional roller coaster that I'm sure is contributing to my desire to escape. So anyways this post turned out a lot longer than I thought it would, so thanks if you've read this far. Hoping I can offer something of value to this community. Regards, Tetsuo