Pochatok

I'm so sorry you're having to deal with so much pain right now, I cannot imagine how it feels but I understand how it makes your life much more difficult. I hope that surgery will bring desired results quickly. Thinking of you! Po

Hey! Have you tried doing dreaming (as in, imagining a future you really want) and goal setting on a daily basis? Helped me tremendously with figuring out what I want that "something" to be, and how to desire it more than playing video games.

Thank to all who read my writing, I hope you have a brighter day 🙂 -- Gaming Still treat games as a "rest" activity, though at this point they are pretty draining. It's still a fun and exciting activity, but more similar to music or sports rather than watching a movie. Having a truly good time requires some effort, and sometimes that causes frustration. I'm very happy with how I'm feeling about games overall now though- they're not any more rewarding than reading or simply laying down. Something I've been aspiring to for a long time. Recap of the week Getting there! It's all about doing things first, and then having the drive arrive. So, I've been doing a lot! Daily workouts, daily walks outside, daily podcasts, and so much more. But at the same time, laying out my future has been just as important and valuable- it's much easier to wake up feeling excited when I have things to look forward to. Otherwise, it's been a pretty tiring week. I am noticing more how I am academically and motivationally different from nearly all students. Some are chasing "A"s, others have strong passions, but few are pursuing things as vigorously as I am. This weekend hosted a record amount of parties, and I did not attend any. Just felt like doing work in my room instead, not watching a movie or relaxing in other way. I am a bit worried that this will bring social anxiety, but I am happy to be aligning my everyday routines with the people whose passion and efforts I admire. Ye. I'm too obsessed with preventing every little error, and doing everything in the best way possible. But future doesn't work like that. So, I've been focusing more on being in the present, taking time for myself now, rather than planning out things too far out. I want consistency, and so far this has been working better for me. Effectiveness/Efficiency The more I am doing what I love, the more ambitious I get. It's a simple progression, it seems- improve my craft, share it, and get more and more opportunities. Ambition comes from opportunities that are brought to me, then... Though, I do want to make opportunities for myself, too. If I'm building a pyramid, the quality of the stone won't matter (i.e. my obsession with doing everything the best I can) if I am not stacking them properly. Still a problem. I am literally late to something as I am writing this lol. *goes away for an hour* But, I am definitely more self-conscious of the fact that this is an issue, and that already has made it a bit better. Outside of that, I am attempting to get back to being much more focused in the present, but with a fresh new mindset. Before, I would try to achieve that through fairly restless work schedules, but now I simply want to be in the moment and have the ability to deal with things as they come and go. Relationships Couple counselling session do wonders! The issue is still looming, but now both me and my partner acknowledge its importance and will be working towards addressing it. I am contuinuing to be getting more and more excited for this relationship's future as we go on. I have no idea if things will actually work out, but now I actually believe that we're doing something to up those odds. Nah, my family is doing pretty well! They are working a lot, but there is a lot of breaks and downtime that I wasn't seeing before. I am definitely anxious about my family more than optimistic, and tend to look at the difficulties, not the joys they are experiencing. I am not seeing as many friends as I'd like, and that's been bugging me a bit. I think that for now, I'll take out video games of my daily activities, reserve them to 20 minutes over the weekend again. If I need to study from them, I'll do that via Youtube. Every time I'll have an urge to play, I'll text someone I appreciate instead 🙂 Moving Forward It made a difference! I feel much more confident in my choice to pursue composition. In the long run, I still want to explore other mediums, but for starting a career, this is the point I will journey onwards from. I hope to be able to resist my urges and bad habits better in the coming week- my tendency to scatch acne and face in general has been resurfacing, and I've been not following some of my routines due to impulsive behaviours. -- Thank you so much for reading, and have a great rest of your day 🙂 I appreciate you so much, Po

Haha yes, that is valid. Still a win though, I'm glad you'r able to have the desired outcome even if the process went not as expected.

I really love how you're describing being exhausted/tired- without any stigma or negativity, just as a matter of a fact. I tend to self-shame for resting too much, so reading this helps a lot! Thank you 🙂

Time for another recap! Today has been one of the slowest Saturdays in a long time, I think the colder weather and lack of sunlight are starting to take their toll... -- Gaming Haven't been playing since. I think that will change now that I'm oficially committed to becoming a video game composer (hehe), but I still will cap this, along with any other entertainment. I still don't plan on ever playing online multiplayer, ever. It's designed to be addictive, and often toxic + stressful. I like to see games as an art form, and MMOs ain't it. Recap of the week Dropped animation. It is something I will most certainly come back to, but I do need a more secure and reliable way to make a living first. By the time I am 30, I hope to be doing animation, but until then, I will shift my energy elsewhere. Still here; overall, I am not wasting time per se, but I wish I had more drive. Yes, motivation comes from doing things, not vice versa, but I wish that I would have more desire to do things than to rest. Hmmm, this thought illuminates a harmful mindset. I am assuming that I am not doing my best, which is true, but I still believe to be my best self. The circumstances have changed (the weather is really tiring, and I have not gotten good sleep in last two days), but I am still putting in a lot of effort and passion. Some of it comes down to not following routines, which I can do better on by creating a better environment... Overall, I think it has been a very good week, though a tiring one. I'm doing great in classes, and am restarting once again on my career journey. It seems that my desire for a future where I am perfectly happy with what I am doing is causing me to be inconsistent; I'll expand on this thought next week. Effectiveness/Efficiency This is still a mystery to me- I have figured out how to make motivation work in my favour, but ambition is difficult to conceptualize. I want to pin it down, as it does impact motivation. Other than that, I've been more acutely aware of my tendency to be late due to drowning in the process of whatever the task is. Not happy with this, and will work toward kicking this habit out of my life. Relationships This was great, yes ❤️ But, now we're stubmling onto a core difference that has been looming for a very long time, and it's not something that can be resolved with a few good conversations. I'm certainly overthinking the impact it has on the relationship (it doesn't, lol), but it might become a dealbreaker in the future, and that's what has been making me nervous. At this point, though, I've come to accept that. I am extremely grateful for everything my partner has brought to my life, and I won't treat this relationship like it's falling apart unless we're truly hitting rock bottom, which is not the case now nor does it have to be in the future. At this point in our lives, we very much get to shape our future, and I wan't to be hopeful, not nihilistic. Family is doing okay. I am grateful for how hardworking and loving they are, though I also think that they're going to crash and burn sometime within the next year, and am nervous that I won't be able to support them through those times. They've been working too hard, too much, and they're also not getting younger lol. But again, I choose to be hopeful. Moving Forward Still so true! Every day, I am doubting whether I am doing the right thing, because 1) I am not great at it yet and 2) the positive impact on others is literally not there, and I can never truly measure it the same way. But, I persist to work on my passions every day; my work will be purposeful and valuable, and I know that it has the capacity to change the world. And I will get there, step by step, day by day. I also hope to not let my anxieties wallow me over as much- social anxieties have been kicking up, and it takes a lot of effort to put that fire out -_- -- Hope you've found something insightful, helpful, or smile-worthy in this journal entry ❤️ Have a great day! Po

Ehhh, it's far more complicated than that! I think that willpower in general is very, very hard to acquire. Atomic Habits makes a good point in that people who appear to be very strong willed have simply worked towards making difficult things easier through a variety of methods. I have given up on yearning for "willpower" to do difficult things, and instead prioritize breaking everything down to the smallest bits. I was able to quit gaming by months and months of very tiny, incremental mindset alterations. Tbh, I have simply replaced gaming with other hobbies like reading or building legos. Working towards making them feel as rewarding and exciting took me a long time (and I still struggle with that), but to me that's the only thing that has been truly helpful. If you are planning on doing a detox, I would recommend trying this approach too? You mention, no other activity feels as good; perhaps, you haven't been doing them for long enough? Po ❤️

Hope you'll find something useful in this journal ❤️ -- Gaming Nah, doesn't feel rewarding as much. I think that I don't mind gaming occasionally, but it has to be well thought-out and purposeful for me to actually want to come back to the experience. The game I play requires caution, patience, and good planning; if any of those are out of focus, I lose immediately. If I approach this correctly, this game would help me learn to prevent and anticipate mistakes better, but today's 25-min session was mostly frustrating. I am capping my "sessions" to 5 min, and only when I am alone in the room, and only past 8pm. Recap of the week Coming back to this again! Trying to do a bit of animation and composition daily, but in order to succeed at either by the end of 2022, I will need to prioritize them unevenly. Sad, but I do want to see results, and soon. Other than that, I've been noticing that I am not as effective as I can be, and it partially has to do with a rather relaxed approach to personal deadlines (and academic work is light too, I have to acknowledge). I hope to join online communities that will help me get more ambitious and passionate. Also, I am greatly enjoying sports and music. Got a performance this weekend! Effectiveness/Efficiency Takes time to rebuild this, but I'm trying to do a bit more every day. Every night and morning starts with reading. I have very solid routines. The core issue right now is my mindset to approaching certain tasks, as the anxiety of getting a job and building a career is getting more immediate day by day... But I will manage! Ambition is slowly coming back, but now I know that inspiration and motivation come from doing, not dreaming. I will keep doing. Relationships Some unexpected but very welcoming conversations took place with my partner yesterday, and I feel more secure, excited, and optimistic about our relationship than I've had in a few months. That feels great. I am struggling to support financially both myself and my family, and that is saddening a bit, but I know that it is a temporary problem that I will be able to resolve. Most important thing is to be there for my family as a person, and I hope to call them tomorrow night 🙂 Moving Forward Continuing to improve, however slowly. I think that at the core, my motivation is still not as high as it could be, but I also am doing very difficult, challenging work. What makes following my passions difficult, I think, is that I am not obliged to work on them, and neither will I create a visible, immediate positive impact, and those are the things that motivate me to outperform myself otherwise. But, the more I will do what I love, the more passion and motivation will come. It takes time, but I've done it in the past, and will do it again. -- Thank you for reading, fellow Quitter! Stay strong, and have a good rest of your day ❤️ Po

Lmao I feel you, I just did a presentation on why Yebenya Aesthetics at my school! It unfortunately is very difficult, especially right now, to dissociate Russia from politics, but it is a beautiful country with rich and fascinating culture. I am still glad to be Russian, and to share my culture and history with people around me, even though I no longer live there. I see! I'm sorry to hear that you're back into binge gaming, but I'm glad that you're safe. My family had to help evacuate a few of my friends because they did get called into the draft (also no military experience...). Also, I'm super happy to hear that you are able to leave the country easily if needed, that's a privilege not many have. I hope you'll be able to use it when needed.

Hope you find something useful in this journal entry. Thank you so much for reading ❤️ -- Gaming Urges are more insiduous at this point... I've played over 45 minutes on both Fri and Sat, but it was certainly a rewarding experience. I will cap it from now on, as while I'm enjoying actually having a good time while gaming (and am learning a lot about myself, practicing my ability to focus and remain calm, etc.), I don't want it to be bigger than any other activities. At the moment, I game more than I do HW/hobbies. That's not something I like to write about myself. Recap of the week Never happened..? This week started out with a lot of passion for animation, but then I had to subsidize that for homework and jobs as I started to drag behind the schedule... I will prioritize time tomorrow morning to work on this! Other than that, the week has been pretty fine. I'm not making time management mistakes pretty much at all- it feels good to not be forgetting about important meetings. I am late to almost everything though... Mobilization in Russia is horrifying still, and the more I hear from my family and the internet about what is actually going on (rather than what the gov/news is saying), the more directly I feel impacted and connected to this catastrophe. Effectiveness/Efficiency A bit better, but this week overall has been dipping low in self esteem and ability to feel good about myself. Have been practicing self-care and self-love more intentionally, aiming to do things that actually are good for me rather than things that make me feel good. Uninstalling games is an act of self care. Going to bed early is an act of self care. Hope to feel more motivated to do exciting and hard things next week. I am tired of doing small work; I want to feel as ambitious and grand as I did during the summer again. Relationships Shifted around my patterns a bit: lunch/dinner is more so my own time, but I'm seeing lots of people throughout the week! Will hang out with 2 friends tomorrow, have texted my best friend, and hang out with two other friends Thursday dinner. It does feel like a lot, but also feels like a very exciting and unique set of experiences to me. Things with my partner are ok, we both schedule things very differently this year and my partner is frustrated that we don't get to spend much time together. We hope to make some changes in the coming week. I miss them. Moving Forward I did a lot of visioning and journaling, and it sort of helped, but also did not. Something very important is missing, and I've been struggling to determine what it is for almost three weeks. I'm just not as motivated, and still am struggling to pick up those loose ends and get my research started. But, I have to acknowledge that this year is, just like any other, completely different from those before, and I'm dealing with new challenges. I hope to be true to myself and not become frustrated with games again. I want to be an animator, composer, good lover, and many other things, and that requires time. -- Thank you so much for reading, I hope that you will get time to take care of yourself today ❤️ Po

Hey Max, how are you? Did you end up leaving the country? Have you been drafted? If you're still in Russia and haven't been drafted, I hope that you'll be able to cross the borders to somewhere elsewhere soon.

Thank you for stopping by ❤️ I hope that you will find something useful for yourself in the entry below 🙂 I try to organize my journals in a way that encourages skimming and reflections on the past. Gaming That feeling continued to linger, even though changing gaming from a leisure activity to an exercise in focus and charisma (lol) helped quite a bit. I've decided to uninstall the game until the weekend. I plan to play for 20 min on Fri and Sat. If urges are too strong to regulate that, I will uninstall the game again, wipe all progress, and block the download site. Overall, it seems that moderation will come much more easily when making games actually will be my job, as then I'll have a completely different mindset about it. It seems that the way I classify the act of playing affects a lot what chemicals get into my brain 🙂 Recap of the week Still am, but classes are eating up a lot of my time even with a minimum amount of effort (which i hope to minimize further lol). Classes are great and I can feel myself be challenged every day in a multitude of ways. Extracurricular and jobs are currently at the periphery, and I only get to them in the evening. I will try to create a different schedule over the weekend so that my most passionate doings get priority. Other than that, the news in Russia are quite saddening, and my siblings have gotten COVID (fortunately, light). My partner and I are having the usual arguments, which is frustrating, but it will get better soon, as it always does. We have another couple counselling session today! Effectiveness/Efficiency Such a tight balance! Practicing music has been more distracted than usual because of how relaxed I am. Perhaps, besides reading more on this, part of the solution is not getting myself too comfortable, and instead creating an environment where I can upkeep focus while limiting stress. Relaxed =/= empty minded. Definitely want to start reading more again. Every time I sit down to read for 20-30 minutes, I get up with so much new knowledge! Another frustration is having entertainment balance out my hobbies. Right now, entertainment > hobbies, so when I have spare 10-20 minutes, I'll default to the former. I keep meaning to start pouring more time into my hobbies, but those 10-15 minutes I could use are usually spent browsing through internet. Was it different before? Hmm, I guess it was simply different! Distractions were more contained, but it all comes down to taking proper breaks when I am stressed out, and doing entertainment when I'm in a more stable, relaxed space. Relationships So much to improve upon here! Both me and my partner tend to put our frustrations and anger in front of kindness and understanding. I think that it's a very long process of unlearning, but hope that we will start seeing concrete progress soon. Hope to call my family tonight and see more friends in the coming weeks. I've been pretty social, seeing people at lunch/dinner every day and hanging out 1-1 a couple times per week, but there are many friends who I still don't see much 😞 Moving Forward Sike. This weekend is less loaded, but at this point I am still learning to balance and plan my academic life. I very much want to get to publishing my research, applying for grants, scholarships, and catch up with some long-forgotten projects. Perhaps, I can try to desire all these things a bit more, and, perhaps, my priorities will change with that. I hope to balance my time between what I think is important and what I am passionate about better in the coming week, and to feel more secure and happy about my romantic relationship. Thank you for reading! Hope that you've found something inspiring or helpful in this entry. Po ❤️

Oh no! My heart is hurting quite a bit, I'm so sorry to hear that you -and many of my friends in Russia- are getting drafted. It sucks even more that you are already in the reserve... I really hope that this week's entries aren't the last time I hear from you. I'm glad you're continuing to be resilient even in the face of such difficult circumstances.

Awhhh shoot, same here! I only do calisthenics now because I ruined my kneecaps and a few other joints. Lifting weights is too risky. Hey! Just remember that this is only a feeling, not a fact! You might be feeling this way now, and that's totally valid, and you're going to feel better in the future. If it is possible for other people just like you, it is possible for you too. You are on your own journey; I think that if I wasn't so privilieged to attend one of America's better universities, I would be still addicted. You have a very different environment that does influence the speed at which you can fight the addiction. It's not all your fault, because so many factors are outside of your control (or you might not even know about them). But you can, and will succeed, if you give yourself enough time and love and understanding. Your addiction does not define who you are or who you can be! Hope that this will give you some strength to keep going ❤️ Po

Feeling a bit anxious as it's late and I still haven't gotten to my HW... But, this reflection is also extremely important to me and I do not wish to put it off any longer. I smiled, stretched, stood up and sat back down. Now I'm feeling excited for this! Gaming Woah! I did end up downloading and installing it, just a couple days ago (and, sike, because Minecraft is not "fun" enough). Now, I've been limiting myself pretty strictly to 15-20 minutes, but while the initial few days have been positive, I'm already starting to feel addicted. It's extremely frustrating that I'm not able to enjoy any more fun, exciting games without getting addicted. I'll install an additional set of limitations, and if that still leaves me feeling stressed, will uninstall the game. As someone who wants to work in the video game industry, I would like to be able to enjoy playing without becoming addicted. Perhaps, changing my reason for playing games into a more professional-oriented activity would help? Right now, I'm seeing it as entertainment, and that could be feeding into addictive behaviours. I'm still commited to living an addiction-free life. If this doesn't get better by next entry, I will uninstall everything and erase all data🙂 Recap of the week Regained the routines, but need to work on goals to feel more motivated. I remember, early in the summer, I would wake up feeling genuinely excited to engage in the same activities that feel like a chore now. Anyways, school has started! Funny enough, it no longer feels that big- I'm enjoying work much more than classes (even though they're great), and hope to take on more awesome jobs soon. We'll see if my priorities change in the coming weeks. Made a budget for the year, and it seems that I need to apply -and win- some scholarships! A good motivator to be doing more artistic stuff again lol Effectiveness/Efficiency Better here! All it takes, really, is having a more efficiency-oriented mindset, where the only important thing in the process is the goal itself. In other words, I don't worry as much about having a perfect route towards the destination, and only correct my route if I'm experiencing stress/frustration. In terms of practicing music and exercising, this has been giving me amazing results. Relationships Ey, had a couple counselling session to work exactly on this issue, and it has gotten better! I do feel a bit out of my skin when saying things differently from how I usually say them, but I hope it's just a matter of getting used to... being kinder, lol. Also, visited my family, and was super happy to see one of my parents act much more positive. While they're still struggling with many things (and I hope to help), being around my family now is an overwhelmingly positive experience. I'm so grateful for the collaborative work on improving our relationships within family- thank you parents, siblings, and friends! Moving Forward AAA Still haven't done it, but it seems like it will be okay now? I will for sure have time for this over the weekend, and the motivation is there again now that I'm interacting again with the people who I consult on these projects. Too true still, it takes a lot of thinkfeeling to get myself more precisely motivated for doing any creative work. I don't want to let it slip away from me. But my biggest worry is regaining my addictive behaviours and losing my general sense of motivation for real life. I might be too paranoid... Thank you for reading! Hope that you've found something inspiring or helpful in this entry. Po ❤️

Haha, get those dreams from time to time to! Unfortunately, the dreams are extremely positive experiences and I wake up feeling bitter that in real-life gaming is so polluted with addictive patterns and mechanics.

So happy you're making progress! There are definitely phases where the cravings change character and you feel like addiction is no longer there... But it takes so much longer to wear off, unfortunately, and it's important to persist on the detox 🙂 I've had multiple points (about 7 months into the detox, for example) where I also experienced something that wasn't quite a craving... As soon as I'd start playing, convinced that because it didn't feel like a craving things would be fine, addiction would make a return. Keep at it!

Hi! I second Wildermyth's points. It's a long journey, and I'm not sure if there are shortcuts. It took me a very long time to not feel that way about gaming content on social media. If you use Chrome, there's a super useful extension called "UnDistracted". It blocks out a lot of different content types (comments, feed, suggestions, etc.) across multiple sites. Reduced my urge to watch addictive content because it simply made it unacessible.

Thank you for sharing your story, it's such valuable insight into how different our experiences with gaming addiction can be. I'm happy that you're able to reason and analyse yourself so deeply, and hope it helps in reducing the addictive behaviours!

What do you find beneficial to you or others in writing blogs? I've done it for a bit, and just ended up feeling discouraged cuz it didn't seem to leave any impact on people around me...

Hmm, it has worked out for me! I do think that as an approach to treat addiction it is uneffective, but I've come back to casual gaming (<20min/day) and it actually leaves me feeling good. There are two multiple sides of the coin to any activity, and categorizing anything as either "good" or "bad" limits very much the ability to understand what that thing truly is. I'm curious of your definition of "becoming stronger": what does increase in strength look like to you across different activities? I do agree with your point about becoming a leader 100%, leadership skills are key to thriving in modern environments imo.

Eyy! Same for me, the less I game the less excuses I have to not read every day. I also find podcasts/audiobooks much more appealing, but the amount of knowledge and insight reading provides makes it worth my time. Also, your set up is damn hot! That looks so cozy!

Hey! Have you thought of making your journal entries a bit more detailed (and maybe less frequent?). For me, using this forum as a space to reflect and analyze turned out to be extremely helpful 🙂

First, let's get into the right environment! Get some water, clean up my desk... Stretch wide, get into the most energetic posture... Let's get started! Gaming Been getting into more addictive loops with this game. It is not addictive by design, but I'm so effective at setting up my own goals that it becomes quite difficult to stop playing at the clock. I'll apply the general rule of habit building from Atomic Habits, "it's okay to slip up once, but once you repeat the same mistake, it becomes a pattern." And those are hard to break. Other than that, still have a very strong urge to reinstall games- almost downloaded one yesterday, stopped myself halfway through. Other historically harmful habits are also resurfacing; I've been simply taking it as a sign that I need more concrete (time and scope-wise) goals and routines. At the moment, it feels like I have "nothing" to do, and so timesinking into games feels just right. Recap of the week Now I know that I felt that way largely because I quit most of my routines and lost track of goals. Today and tomorrow, I'll be spending a large portion of my day rebuilding them. My job has finally concluded, and I'm incredibly happy with it! I've learned a ton, and made more impact than ever. From now on, I'll seek out more executive-level positions. The amount of creativity and individuality I get to employ at such a global level of impact is an incredible experience... How am I feeling right now While it feels great to not be burdened by shame for not being too productive, I've totally forgotten that this same feeling is what got me addicted. I'd give myself the excuse to play games, browse internet, and engage in other potentially harmful, stressful behaviours through saying, "there is still so much time in the day left". Truth is, time is not important, and I don't ever want to use it as an excuse, be it "too little time" or "too much time". What matters is my internal motivators to do _ rather than _ . I've been overlooking motivation, and while I am not feeling bad over spending lots of time simply feeling good, indulging in those patterns any longer will begin to cause me stress. Otherwise, I'm feeling good haha. It's a fine morning. I am improving my sleep schedule and morning routines, and that always feels great. Love waking up feeling good! Effectiveness Still in the process of kicking in, I guess? I'm feeling less stressed about work, but I feel like it's because there is less work. There is still so much to work on when it comes to dealing with frustrations and stress factors as soon as they're on the horizon instead of when they're hovering right over me... Relationships So much to work on when it comes to having arguments with my partner... While we're doing great when, uh, things are great, I struggle greatly to comfort my partner when they are stressed. That often leads to some serious conflicts. We're gonna use our college student privilege and get a group counselling session; hope that will help. If looking beyond my partner and I's relationship, things are great. I feel very comfortable hanging with all kinds of people, and while I still prefer to be on my own, my social anxieties are having a historic low. Kudos to all the organizations I've been a part of this summer, they forced me out of my comfort zone and helped me adapt to, but also appreciate being more extroverted. Moving Forward Oops haha. Gotta get to that ASAP, or else I'll have to pay out of pocket for a study abroad class... I'm excited to be getting into a whole new year of learning, meeting people, creating awesome projects that I absolutely despise the process of, and simply being student. But, I fear that I'll lose sight of my bigger goals again, and will end up dropping them for other projects. My desire to be an animator/sound designer is strong, but easily undermined... Time wil tell! Thank you for reading, and I hope you can find some joy in the memories you've made today ❤️ Po

Hey, totally feel you on that whack-a-mole experience with additctions. For me, learning to accept boredom and use it to my advantage has been quite helpful. I've been experiencing lots of urges to restart gaming lately, going all the way to downloading a game and then withdrawing the last moment. What helped me was acknowleding that I am a) bored and b) not interested in doing anything "productive". Truth is, everything you do (including literally laying down and being bored) can be incredibly productive if you let it be. Not everything has to add up directly towards your goals, but everything does trickle down into them one way or another. It very much depends on our perception of what's going on. Learning to take boredom as an opportunity to reflect, recenter, and regain energy has helped me reduce my urges towards addictive behaviour with the least amount of effort and stress. Before, I'd try to force myself to be hyper-productive, burying the urges in work. While it worked, it ultimately did not help my motivation or lowered my stress, and only led to more boredom, which I did not know how to cope with. Let me know what you think! Po