Joba

Thank you Cam! and thank you for your inspiring videos!

Hi Cam! I produce House music under a different moniker. You can find the last release here: https://www.beatport.com/release/puzzle-ep/1637856 Now that video games are out the way, I intend to create more music You can follow on social media on these sites here: https://soundcloud.com/claudewolfenstein http://www.facebook.com/claudewolfenstein

I also produce music! You can find the latest house moniker release here: https://www.beatport.com/release/puzzle-ep/1637856 And my experimental trippy psychedelic project here: https://soundcloud.com/justjoba

Hello fellow quitters! My name is Joba and I have decided to change my life for the better by quitting video games. Language has never been my best, so forgive my grammar. I will share backstory then do a tl;dr version. I was born with a lack of oxygen during childbirth, because of that I had suffered some mild trauma which the doctors said had caused me to have learning disabilities. My tongue was also attached to the bottom of my mouth and after surgery I didn't speak my first word until I was 3. This has set the pace for most events of life. One of the biggest things that actually helped me develop my mind and my hand-eye coordination was video games. Way back to MegaMan2, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (the best one!), Bomberman, all the good classics. I remember then moving from England over to Canada, having to sell off all of it at a market felt crushing knowing some other kids were getting my things. The first place I lived in Canada was Calgary AB. The new country, new school kids, new culture, everything... I became quiet but still outgoing enough to go outside. It was that time where biking, Slurpees, and Pokemon (Version Red!) were the only things that mattered. I did make friends this way, which definitely helped for a time being (i'm still friends with them today even through this challenge!). Then, I discovered the most addicting games on the market: Warcraft3, Starcraft, and Diablo2, Dota, and Counter-strike. I didn't know at the time how devastating these games would be. I had used them to fit in during school, to have something fun to do plus having something to talk about. being that I never really played sports ( Never got interested in them as a child) But eventually, the constant gaming in my teenage years had made impact. I was 250 pounds, and constantly going for Slurpee runs, gaming, the sedentary lifestyle had taken its toll. My Esteem was quite low at this point, as the girls I was attracted to didn't want to be seen with me with how big I was. Fast forward a few years later to high school years, our family had moved cities and the same thing had happened; New people, new environment, new culture. My need to wanting to fit in acted up, I gravitated towards video gaming again because it was already easy to make friends. I wanted to fit in, but the technology and computers I always had, never really felt fair to me to game on properly. I always felt one step behind my other gaming friends. This encouraged me to just try harder in games. Many years later, I got rid of my consoles and I got into College. In the first semester I was doing so well, that I got a bit cocky and figured I knew all the material. When it came to the test, I had actually failed a class because I had spent so much time worrying and procrastinating playing video games on my laptop that it was quite devastating. The stress of all of post secondary school and mixing with specific people caused me to develop a dependency to marijuana and video games. Whenever things would get stressful, I would turn to that. During the last couple months before graduation I was terrified for a lot of things; The future, passing the classes, what jobs would be available, etc. I didn't feel prepared at all for the real world once I was out of college from wasting so much time gaming. After a few years of struggling with this, My habits had built up negative effects throughout my relationships and within a week everything had completely ripped apart. I was kicked out of the place I was living at from not bringing enough money due to wanting to game instead of look for a job, my girlfriend at the time wanted a "break" and for about a month I lived off 2 potatoes a day. I had reached rock bottom. Eventually I was forced to move back in with my parents house and enrolled into a trade. At this point I really started taking a serious look at myself and trying to make sense of everything that had happened throughout school, college, post-secondary, everything. I thought I could win back my girlfriend (big mistake) and thought if I worked a trade that would secure a future for both of us. After a couple months of living out of town, I had my actual trade ticket and decided to move back home. When I moved back to Calgary, my friends at the time were still gaming heavily, and my girlfriend had been cheating on me while I was gone and wanted to breakup. About two years later of on/off again uncertainty, I was still spending my evenings playing video games and other distractions. I decided that It was time to move on and moved back in with my parents. I then spent 2015 on Ei on Hiatus to really figure out what it is I really want. I got help. And I found myself constantly disappointed with myself playing video games, and playing magic cards. It made me really question what i'm actually doing with my life. and How to really take action in the right direction. I wanted change but didn't know how. After a long time of self-reflection and help, I had decided that March 13th 2016 would be the last time I play video games. Cam being one of the bigger inspirations, as most people don't understand the concept of "not gaming". One of the bigger inspirations that really kick-started this whole journey was reading a book Cam recommended called "The Power of Habit" and its helped me out so much. The concept in the book of the reward loop made so much sense to me to where I am right now. I'm currently on day 85, and although i'm not on the detox program directly but i've managed to gather enough information to really help get me this far. I found it was fascinating why I would be getting cravings to play video games, its madness! Things are going great however there is this nagging feeling of boredom and not replacing gaming with other habits that do not have good return value. I do enjoy the other hobbies i've included. I produce music, make steampunk stuff, read, and go to the gym. But I still feel somewhat bored. I do have goals, I would like to play my own shows of entirely my own music (you know, like real bands do). I realized then that its time to join the forum and now I'm here! TL;DR: Struggled with video game dependency most of life and fitting in social circles, some bad stuff happened, did a lot of self-reflection on how to create the life I want, and now I'm day 85 in and looking for other gamequitters for support. I write music, make steampunk props, read, bike/gym and have a fulltime job (longer than 6 months). At this point i'm not entirely sure what direction I want to go but the more "Organic" I go with my approach I know its going to work out better.