NEW VIDEO: I Quit MMOs and THIS Happened
Realworlder
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Posts posted by Realworlder
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1 hour ago, Erik2.0 said:
For sure. I've never taken an interest to big puzzles. I see they take a long time and laminating them after seems like a process. That's good you're into them. Sounds like a good use of time.
It is something I have never done before either. I have not put enough time into it that I got frustrated, but I feel like it is inevitable though I want to finish it just to prove to myself that I can.
2 hours ago, Erik2.0 said:It's kind of hot out which makes things more complicated. I tend to get overheated easily. I realized today that black is probably not the best color hat in the heat. Still it's nice to get out and see some nature. I drew some today. Man, I'm feeling really lethargic about posting lately. I wonder if it's the tv or the heat or what. Maybe I'll try to read more.
What's the weather like where you live? Presumably not the ideal color haha. I usually wear full black when I run, but luckily it is not too hot here, so it's okay even in the sun, especially in the morning. Don't worry man. It can be both, or you just need to change things up. Reading is great. In these last few weeks, I have felt that I get a lot more satisfaction from reading compared to other forms of entertainment.
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On 5/15/2020 at 4:42 AM, PianoLearner said:
Gaming: My friend got angry at me and said he is done "raging at me". He proposed (by texts) again to play games, which I refused, he quickly seemed emotional to which I proposed to discuss, which he refused and replied that he did not want to rage and that he was done raging. I asked what was he raging about and the next reply was "you". Afterward he stopped replying... I texted his girlfriend which told me she knew nothing about this situation and that she couldn't help me (they don't really talk about these things between them). Not sure what I should do know, he doesn't seem to want to talk, he told me that he feels that he is "put on the side" by me, I am not sure what he means by that. I don't like this situation because I do not know what to do, I don't feel like I should lose this friendship because I stopped playing games, until today we never really played together at a game, why now would matter? I proposed to play chess online (does that count as "non-gaming" activity?) we'll see with his reply.
It does seem like he is struggling with something himself. I would guess there is an underlying issue that might have stressed him, so he turned to gaming as a form of relief, which he hoped to include you in. When that plan fell apart, that was what brought the raging. I doubt this will affect your friendship too much, considering you haven't used to play together in the past. I think he will just need time. Once he cools down, he will understand why you stopped gaming and that it has nothing to do with him. I would say chess is okay, even board games online are fine, in my opinion, but it is individual. From some people, it may be triggering to play other games, so it depends on how you see it.
On 5/15/2020 at 4:42 AM, PianoLearner said:Soooo all in all, I feel like I have the energy to achieve everything right now (which is feels like I'm back in my early 20s), I feel stressed by the situation with my friend and the school's work, I'm doing great on the piano and practicing everyday and I am grateful for my girlfriend's patience but I must not abuse.
Also, thanks to anyone that reads and react to this, you guys are so awesome, I love this forum.
It's awesome that you are doing well. Keep it up! And do not stress too much about your friend, this things happen all the time. I am sure it will get better in few days. We are happy to have you here 🙂!
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2 hours ago, BooksandTrees said:
I'm also going to meal prep a bit tomorrow. I found a potato recipe I want to try as well as a ground chicken recipe with beans and rice. I believe I have about 3 or 4 weeks left of food so hopefully that holds up. I don't really want to shop and it would be cool to make it 8 weeks between shopping trips.
Damn that's impressive. What do you usually buy and cook to last this long between shops? I struggle to make it over one week on one shop usually haha. I have got a lot better at planning meals nowadays. The lockdown helped partially, as well as quitting gaming did. I proud that I generate next to no waste these days
3 hours ago, BooksandTrees said:I showed my family some of the pictures I took yesterday and got lots of compliments. I think I found 2-4 photos out of the 300 to take. @Erik2.0 I was watching a tutorial where the guy said he takes 500 photos to find 2-5 photos for a profile. Apparently it takes a long time to show it correctly. I thought I was so ugly until I changed a few poses, studied how I was smiling, and modified my facial positions and posture. It made world of difference.
Good job on taking so many pictures and even more on selecting just a few. It is amazing how the outcome of photos can be so drastically affected by different angles, lightning etc.
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@Erik2.0 Thanks for the recommendation. That one looks great. I will try it once I finish Initial D. As you said, life happens; no point into forcing yourself into hobbies you don't enjoy at the time, take a break and you can come back to it later. Now that I finished my second coloring, I do not feel like starting another; moreover, I want to get back to the puzzle and finish it soon.
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Nice, fantasy is one of my favorite genre too. I started reading a lot more now that I quit gaming, and it is a great hobby. I have just finished the third book from The Stormlight Archive and would highly recommend the series. I loved it, it was maybe too addicting at times but definetly something worth reading.
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5 hours ago, apatton090 said:
Day #9
Summary of the day:Pretty normal day, slept in a bit later than I wanted but I had a lot of energy once i got out of bed. Made good progress and actually finished the algorithms lectures and assignment for this week. Felt a bit bored at points throughout the day and wasn't sure what to do. Got caught up on anime and finished my friend's book. I enjoyed reading so I might try to find another book to read. I still need to exercise more. The weather was really bad today so I didn't want to go outside. I might try to put together some kind of exercise routine for when I'm stuck indoors. It doesn't even really have to be exercise, it could be cleaning up around the house. Just something to keep me moving for at least 30 minutes 5 days a week.
Good job on making progress! Boredom is fairly natural after you stop gaming. We need several hobbies and activities to fill in the huge void left by gaming and everything that comes with it. What kind of anime and books do you like? I found those two hobbies to be great as a replacement, but one need to be cautious of binge watching haha.
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9 hours ago, Erik2.0 said:
I do like meditation. It's like a necessity for me almost. Although I've only been doing 10 minutes a day down from 30 lately.
I found meditation to be a great, helpful habit. In fairness, it is the only habit that I have a perfect streak going. But I would say that the best way to use it is to not stress about it at all. I love to structure my routines and habits and make them as perfect as possible. However, funnily enough, for meditation to work well for me, it has to be the exact opposite. Just do it whenever and for whatever long. Some days it is just a few minutes of focused breathing when I am walking outside, and sometimes an hour-long session of perfect relaxation. From past experience, I found that the less I stress about it, the more I tend to meditate, haha.
9 hours ago, Erik2.0 said:So all your marker drawings become one sided which doesn't work well in sketchbooks or coloring books. That's why I might scan my coloring book for marker coloring. What anime or shows are you watching?
Well, everything has its pros and cons. I believe that there are bulletproof sketchbooks with thicker paper made directly for markers, you might want to look into that. I had a look, and there are some on amazon which should work quite well. They are more expensive than regular ones, but that might be a good trade-off for the convenience 🤔. I am currently watching Initial D, which is an older anime about street racing. I think you might like it, it is mostly chill and funny at times, but it has excellent hype scenes with even better music.
9 hours ago, Erik2.0 said:Yesterday I was feeling kind of down. Maybe it was something I watched? I don't know. I'm trying to stick to watching comedies. I feel like they have a much lower chance of making me depressed or upset. I think they might be what's best for me. Anime comedies are great I'll look for more of them.
"There is no happiness without sadness," a controversial quote, but I like one side of it. We are much better at detecting change compared to anything constant. In the same sense, if you feel down one day, the easier it is to feel much better the next 🙂. Comedies are great. Some of my favorite anime ones are: One Punch Man, Konosuba & No Game No Life (this one is Ecchi and related to games so beware, but it's hilarious, and there is a lot of mastermind strategy is involved)
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On 5/12/2020 at 7:18 PM, chiliflavor said:
PS. Over time, I may change this template depending on what I think would be helpful or insightful. This journal thing is really interesting, I don't know why! 😂
Welcome to the forums! I like this form of a structured template 🙂. But as everything, with time you will find a system that works best for you. Journaling is an enjoyable way to share your highs and lows with others, more so here where we all share a similar back story.
3 hours ago, chiliflavor said:I think gaming is really good (after you've done everything you need to do) if and only if you can control it.
It could be. However, it is the same as with everything, the difference between medicine or poison is only the dose. It would be delightful to be able to play in small controlled doses in moderation. Still, I personally am incapable of that. After reading your story, I would say that it is not the best option for you either. Luckily there are so many other exciting things and activities worth pursuing. With time they will be a lot more visible now that you are no longer blinded by gaming.
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19 hours ago, Erik2.0 said:
@BooksandTrees Maybe another week or two. I'm starting to feel like I can sleep later and get up earlier.
Day 168 NP 131 Np 121 Med 107 NF 7
Positive post: I saw two clients, I did my morning routine and I colored.
I got my manga coloring book today. It's a nice book. I think I might photocopy some pages so I can color them with markers. After trying both I think I like markers more than pencils. It's nice to not have to deal with sharpening and throwing out shavings. My sleep really limits my free time now. I'm probably going to have to cut back on TV so I can make time for evening meditation. I'm trying out a Hulu subscription. I guess Netflix just hasn't been cutting it for me and I've wanted to watch Naruto for a while. I'm on a trial for Hulu. I might switch to VRV after it runs out and just watch anime. I realize I like anime because there isn't any swearing in it usually. I heard there aren't swear words in Japanese. So much TV has nudity and swearing which I prefer not to see. I like it to be more christian like.
I smiled at trollhunters, good show.
I accomplished learning how to make a bird trap
I am grateful for my life, what I do have, sunlight, birds, trees, animals, shadows, Naruto, art, hope and love.
God bless
Erik
Good to see that you are doing well. That manga coloring book sounds wonderful. Haha, yeah, the pencils can be quite annoying at times, now that I think about it I do not believe I've ever used markers to color something. It might be worth a try sometime. This is the main thing I do not like about these services these days as they are limiting in what they offer. On the other hand, if you know that one will work well for you, that is great. There is some quite dark anime with profanity, but it is nowhere near as common as it is in tv shows.
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23 hours ago, noMoreProcrastination said:
So I figured that my biggest fear is other people seeing me fail, so I need to somehow put my plans/goals/failures here so I would get the motivation not to fail.
Welcome to the forums! Don't worry; there are a lot of us who are struggling with the same things you are currently. Hell, it is the biggest issue I currently have. Well, I guess it was always a big issue, but procrastination in the form of gaming was outright destructive. I had stopped gaming close to a month before I joined the forums but had a small relapse. Since then, I have not played for more than a month, though. But I am still battling against instant gratification in one form or another. I am not sure if it is because of years gaming that we are so inclined towards the immediate reward or that we gamed because we are naturally inclined to it. Still, I know there is always a way to change oneself. I guess it used to be a beneficial survival mechanism in the past, unfortunately it is not that viable in the modern world, haha.
23 hours ago, noMoreProcrastination said:I recently read a blog post that brought a lot of clarity to the whole instant gratification thing. Check it out, definitely worth it: https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html
That is a great article on the topic. I watched the Ted talk several times by now as YouTube seems to know what I need haha.
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@Havey That is fair. If you can only play with your friends and then not play on your own time, it should be fine. Just be aware to not let it get out of control, which can happen easier than we think. Those bad habits are like weeds. It might seem somewhat innocent but can easily steal you of several hours of your time. What helped me the most against mindless browsing is to track my time in the day. When I saw that I have spent 6 hours in one day just mindlessly browsing the internet, I was horrified. Now I am trying to stop it as soon notice doing it. Being conscious about it is definitely a good step forward.
No worries, mate. I was not much around in the last few days, anyway.
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13 hours ago, Havey said:
I have a decision to make as to whether to keep my xbox to keep in touch with my friends or not. If I do keep it then when is it acceptable to play and when not etc. I would also enjoy being more productive with planning my future and some meaningful goals.
I guess this comes down to every individual. Will you be able to play in moderation? Will you be able to play only with friends and enjoy it more as a social event than just waste time gaming on your own? For me, personally I have learned the hard way that moderation does not work for me at all. I did not have to get rid of any consoles, but I would probably try to do it. The hardest thing for me was to delete my LoL account, but it was the best decision I could have made. If I did not, there is a high chance I would be playing now during this lockdown. I was tempted several times and was close to consider it, especially in the beginning when friends asked me if I want to play with them. However, not having my old account helped tremendously to stay away.
13 hours ago, Havey said:However, I was ill quite a lot in my past life so it is understandable that it would take awhile to turn around. But generally I feel great - moreso the mental swings that do me in! haha.
I see. Well, in that case things will get brighter, they just need more time 🙂. Also good job on getting almost halfway to your 30 day goal!
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8 hours ago, Erik2.0 said:
@Marek Megumin was the girl with the bamboo reed on her mouth right? She was a good one.
She is the last one with the magic staff and hat-wearing an eye patch. She if from Konosuba. I thought you watched that one, but if not, I would highly recommend it. It is basically a parody on isekai anime, haha. It is hilarious, and it does not take itself too seriously. One of my favorites for sure.
8 hours ago, Erik2.0 said:So I sharpened them down kind of far before I was able to produce a coloring tip that worked on two of them. This is too bad because they're really good pencils otherwise. Seeing them shrink so quickly made me want to conserve them as much as possible and not use them for coloring books only for my drawings. But I bought them for coloring books so . . . I don't know. I wish colored pencils didn't shrink up so quickly.
That is unfortunate, and I share your pain. Two days ago, I got angry for the same reason and lost almost one-third of my green pencil because it kept breaking every time I sharpened it. On the other hand, they run out quickly anyway. I would not worry about it too much after all that's what they are made for 😄.
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Welcome back and all the best on your journey! 🙂
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@Havey Good job on the progress! It is incredible how much our mood can be affected by weather. But this whole weekend should be lovely. A good To-Do list takes time to make and a lot of experimentation. One key advice I would recommend is to not overload it with too many things. Whenever I do that, I just tend to procrastinate the whole list, haha. On the topic of energy in the afternoon, how is your diet? I found that when I eat a lot of processed food and snacks, I tend to crash a lot throughout a day.
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20 hours ago, Erik2.0 said:
That'd be a nice break from spending all my time at home. I've been making progress on my happiness book. It's really made me a believer in positive journaling. They suggest having rose tinted glasses on. Meaning you focus on the positive and are still able to reasonably sort out the reality of things as well. Reasonable positivity.
It is a good way to appreciate daily things more and be more optimistic in general. I used to do it more in the past but I am still keeping one with highlights of the day.
20 hours ago, Erik2.0 said:I'm kind of burned out off talking about drawing and posting my daily drawings. I think I might try to cool it on those fronts for a little while. I'm getting some colored pencils and a coloring book soon so that'll be cool. I can color in my sketchbook without the colors running onto the other side.
There are plenty of other things you can enjoy to take a break from drawing. But I am looking forward to your drawings colored with pencils. Megumin turned our great!
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2 hours ago, obelix_mtg said:
Day 3, things have become a little harder. I still haven't found any other activity that excites me as much as gaming. So far, I've been focusing mostly on work, which has felt good because I do see my productivity going up, but I'm worried about the 3-day weekend that is coming up. Did you guys need to force yourselves to get interested into non-gaming stuff? I'm struggling with this.
The hard is always tough, and I think that many people went through the same. It took me quite some time till I got interested in other things besides gaming. I would not necessarily say that you need to force yourself into getting interested, but it is good to push yourself to try new things, and you will eventually find what you enjoy. On top of that, remember that you have spent hours developing the habit of gaming, so to replace it will take time and effort.
2 hours ago, obelix_mtg said:I also had a not so great experience today during working hours: I finished a meeting early, and fired a youtube video of a streamer I like playing Magic. It was only 20 minutes, but I feel bad about them now, and it was kinda hard to stop watching it, so much that I made it late to the meeting after. It's not like gaming directly, but it made me want to game pretty bad, so I think I need to steer clear of gaming-related content for now.
If they trigger you to game, I would recommend quitting them alongside gaming. After I quit, I still watched streams but mainly eSports, which I enjoyed, but they did not make me want to play the game as much as watching gameplay highlights directly. But I have quit those now as well because I am aware that I need to burn all my boats to move forward fully.
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@Metalgear222 Thank you for sharing your story. I think you would be surprised by how many people went through very similar if not the same path with games. After WoW, I started League of Legends, which was my biggest nemesis. I do not even want to know how much time I have wasted on that game, let alone all the videos and streams linked to it. The start is always the hardest. When you spent that much time on something, it is only natural that it is hard to live without it. But it is not impossible. Once you find interests that can replace all the needs that gaming provided you with, you will be able to enjoy your life to the fullest without looking back to gaming.
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@remember115 I share with you the idea that it is an even better time now to quit mainly because if you can do it in these harder times, it will only get easier when things are better. Keep it up, man! Binge-watching is a huge trap. I tend to fall into it way too often. It feels good to finish it just for the sense of completion. But in all honesty, it is the worst when I tell myself, "I will start working once I finish this show." I found that all it does is leads to further procrastination. I struggle with it a lot at the moment, too, and I am trying to be more decisive on prioritizing work and important things over the meaningless easier ones. However, I have not done that well in the last two days.
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8 hours ago, BooksandTrees said:
Don't avoid the housemate. I made that mistake with my former roommates and it created untold animosity and we almost fought. Just find ways to deal with the interaction and move on. It sounds like she's not attacking you like your sister was either.
Avoiding is not the best option, in my opinion too. I did that last year, and it was fine in a sense there was not any conflict. But at times, it made me feel stressed and afraid to even leave my room or go to the kitchen just to avoid my roommates. I would not even say that we were mean to each other, we just did not get along well and could tolerate each other. All in all, that year, I had a lot more anxiety and spent too much time gaming. Avoiding them was an easy escape. Which now, in retrospect, I know it would be a lot better if I talked to them more about how to get along instead of just avoiding it. Unfortunately, it is not that easy; well, I never did it 😞. I do believe it would relieve a lot of my stress if I did, though.
8 hours ago, BooksandTrees said:I think I'll give a coloring book a try.
Go for it! I am sure you will enjoy it. It is a great way to relax 🙂. I think I will start my second coloring today.
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@obelix_mtg Welcome to the forums! Letting go of the past is never easy, even if it caused us much more pain than what we feel at the moment. However, I believe that it is necessary to do this with gaming because it is such a strongly engraved habit in our brains. Problem arises in time of stress when we tend to lose control and turn back toward old escape routes. As @BooksandTrees said, the best way to go about it is to write down a list of activities and hobbies you want to do to replace gaming. You will need several of them to cover the vast plains that gaming occupied. Good luck on your journey!
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@Metalgear222 Hi and welcome to the forums! Good luck on your journey! It is great that you came to this realization and know that something need to change. It might seem like a small first step, but actually it is a huge leap to start working toward life without gaming. I am not sure if you have done anything in the respawn program but what helped me most was to burn all the bridges connected to gaming and build new ones towards habits I enjoy and allow me to achieve things in the real world. However you will need several of them to replace every aspect of gaming which makes it, in turn so addictive.
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13 hours ago, Erik2.0 said:
I do situps. Sounds like if I added enough running and caloric deficit I could have visible abs. Well....I can try to run today. Yeah I hope the meds situation improves too. Maybe I'll just be all out of it for a few weeks while the new dosage and my body get acquainted then it'll make me less tired. Yeah I can see how girls might be less hyped about six packs. Guys definitely do seem to be into it. Something about having abs is awesome if you're a guy.
Good luck man! I would recommend to add some more exercises such as leg raises and russian twist, for example. It definitely is a big achievement to achieve so I guess the more you know about what it takes to get it the more you can appreciate it.
18 hours ago, Ikar said:I think it's more about the notion that one DOES exercise than the definite results that might come over time. There are millions of ways how to exercise though.
As it is for most things in life. Journey before destination. 🙂
9 hours ago, Alexanderle said:I am not even doing this anymore to impress girls. I just like to watch myself in the mirror. I think there is nothing wrong with it, as long as I don't become a stupid gorilla or something. xD
Who doesn't haha. Especially looking at results of your hard work will always be satisfying.
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@Erik2.0 @Ikar In simple terms to get to six-pack is just to work on abs to increase definition and volume of the muscle, and more importantly to lower body fat. Which you need negative caloric intake. HIIT is the most efficient way to burn more calories, but you can burn even more with steady state cardio over a longer period of time. It sucks that meds have such side effects, hopefully in the future you can achieve it. However, from experience I would say that most girls are not that hyped about six pack as we guys are.
On 5/1/2020 at 9:00 PM, Alexanderle said:That is so crazy that we consider that as an odd instance. During a project meeting, people would call me strange or weird for not eating sweets like I was some kind of an alien. Of course it was without evil intentions, but people seem to accept the idea that sweets are not necessarily healthy, but still part of our diet. And then they tell you that you are missing out on something. Quite similar mechanisms like alcohol intake, where it is considered cool to get wasted and throwing up is considered an accomplishment. Weird things those legal drugs. ^^
Unfortunately, most of that is driven by the food business. What I find even more troubling is how much sugar is added to pretty much everything these days, literally poisoning whole population. It is a slow poison, but the spikes in diabetes and obesity and other metabolic disorders are just increasing. I wonder how long it will take till these things change, it seems oddly similar to smoking if you think about it. The good old times when smoking was promoted as healthy.
That is the second issue with legal drugs. People are quite self destructing and knowing that the legal drugs are not healthy but do not kill you too quickly it is a good balance for and easy good feeling.
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Mohammad's Journal
in Daily Journals
Posted
It's incredible that you went 200 days without gaming. If you were able to do it in the past, you can do it again and even for longer! All the best! 🙂