Jason70

I am sorry you were declined from those internships, that sucks. But I am glad you realized that even with hard work, when we fall, we can bounce back and eventually succeed. I have used him as an example before but Michael Jordan, he failed to make his high school basketball team even after working hard for a chance. He persevered and worked hard again and eventually became one of the best players in the NBA. It's a good thing you realize that just because you fail once or multiple times, it's not over. I wish you luck on the $1k internship and these last few days! Jason

I'm sorry you're not feeling well, and that you missed out on seeing your girlfriend and eating, I hope you feel better. When I am sick I will usually lay in my bed, have some tea (if my stomach isn't killing me, in that case just very slowly sip water) and I rest and sometimes read. It sucks not getting anything done but when you're sick what are you going to do? Which hockey team do you support? I love the Lightning! But as you said, its best to stay away from something if its just going to fuel anger. Best Jason

Day 30 One month of no games. Felt a bit depressed in the middle of the day. This moment however, made me realize the importance of being open and honest with myself and its okay to cry. Some things I did was I meditated which helped immensely, I journaled and I prayed to God. All the things were super helpful. Today I finished college work, cleaned my room, and went for a walk, I am also following my morning routine well. Need to get to the rest of the to do list though. Besides that I finally started Chinese and i learned that learning a new language is a lot of fun! Excited for tomorrow. Hope you all had a good day Jason @BooksandTreesToday I did some research, into myself I found the anxieties were from just misunderstanding. I said in my own personal journal that some of the reasons were stress from one of my college courses, not fully understanding something new the professor introduced. It was also from anger and being annoyed by a few students on campus. One person was a "friend" who turned out to be a fake son of a bitch and another kid. This resulted in trying to one up them in any way I could, but doing that loses a lot of energy and makes you paranoid because you think "am I going to one up them in this?" So i need to let that anger go. The third one was an episode of one of my favorite cartoons back in the day. This may sound silly but I was afraid of what occurs in that episode was going to come and attack my family. Which is weird because I was afraid of a cartoon and had no problem with The nightmare on elm street 😂. Anyway, I think I got this feeling because it was different for the show which is mostly happy and bright, and also overall it just was a disturbing episode so. I reminded myself that the cartoon setting and the character do not exist, so hopefully I can actually sleep at night. So just stress and paranoia and anger may be causing the pulling of my hair. I still think though music is a part of it as it caused me to not work towards my dreams as I'd be distracted, and since it's a safe-haven it makes me more afraid of failure, making me not want to take risks, which is the opposite of what we want.

Nice job getting through the day! Getting busy with other things usually prevents us from wanting to do what we're trying to avoid. Best Jason

As you said, you can always go back and watch clips later. There is always time for your favorite downtime activities later. The important things come first! Good luck on the studying! That's cute! I am glad you're excited about what you got her! I hope she enjoys it! Best Jason

Day 29 Feeling tired, upset and weak. Didn't play any games today, that however wasn't the issue. The issue was my phone (which I fell back on) and most noticeable, music. Was gonna work on Chinese but then, you guessed it, I got sucked in by music and youtube again, didn't even finish my to do list because of it. One thing I noticed is that I listen to music the same reasons I played games, it provided an escape, a fake reality. I could almost tell you all the songs that resonated with me. Eminem's Cleanin' Out My Closet and Brain Damage to Set It Off's Catch Me if You Can and Wolf in Sheep's Clothing to even now with Pentatonix's Ref and Natural Disaster. The examples I gave don't even scratch the surface of what I related to in music over the past few months. However, all of them I retreated to because I was feeling angry or upset, or was bored and turned to it because it's what I knew. It also was simply because I wanted to see them (youtube) or hear their voices. That's what happens when you're addicted to something. You just need to see it, either through words or on a screen. I think music has caused me to stay in my room for a majority of my time and caused me playing with my hair. Compared to other males I have significantly longer hair, and I usually pull it when I am anxious. So music and Youtube, even though they were my safe-havens, caused me to just from time to time twirl it. I see where I am getting the anxiety from. It could possibly be because music is helping me avoid whatever I don't want to do, but It's also making me hide. As I mentioned before, music and youtube make me hide in my room, but while doing so, I am running just running from myself, running from everything. The truth is, we all need something we can turn to as a needs to calm ourselves down. However, as I have realized with music, it can easily become an addiction without you knowing it. Also while turning to some form of consumption can HELP make you calmer, it overall is not a good way to ease yourself before looking at a situation again. This counts for all forms of consumption, not just games. It can also happen with books, youtube, music, movies, food, high-energy drinks, drugs, alcohol, porn, anything. Anything can become addictive, we just have to differentiate which ones are good and which ones are bad. Although generally speaking too much of anything is bad. I see as I am writing this, I am not pulling or twirling my hair, must be because I am not listening to music. I think music is a great thing, and youtube, although it wouldn't be my first choice, it has amazing things on it. I want to have a healthy relationship with these things again. To enjoy Rap, and Rock and A Capella, and Jazz and Pop and any form of music again without being sucked in and lose self-confidence and lose time. Alternatives I will have, in case I come up with issues, is journaling, punching my punching bag and meditating. Three things that will make me calmer and not just sucked into a screen. So in short, I guess I'll say I am unplugging Hope you had a good day Jason

Day 28 Almost forgot to write this, my bad. Anyway no games today, still working on fighting procrastination. Today was mostly school. Went for a nice walk today, need to get better at time managing, so made a morning routine. have a good day Jason

It's your decision, we can't choose for you. However, 3000 to 4000 hours is a lot of time. You should ask yourself if playing that much is making you isolated or grumpy or making you miss out on important things. You also need to ask yourself if there are any goals (outside of games) or dreams you want to accomplish. Will playing 3000 hours help me towards that goal? If the answer is no, then you need to scan your current situation. Why did you play games? Did they provide an escape from issues? Did they provide a sense of community? Did they give me a sense of progression? These are the three main reasons why people continue to game. Once you've done that you should look for hobbies that not only satisfy those needs but also help you towards whatever your goals are. Make sure to write them down too. If you do decide to quit games, you will face urges and you might relapse. Not saying that to scare you, just be aware of it. Finding hobbies is the most important thing to do if you're looking to quit games as it fills time and it provides a barrier from urges if you enjoy it. Please let me know what your decision is, I am curious to hear! Best Jason

Hey everyone! I know we are still in lockdown, but I want to stress to you to make the most of your time. As gamers, all we did was game, we were pretty bad at time management. This quarantine, as you've noticed has made binging, web-surfing, streaming and gaming especially skyrocket upwards. Even celebrities like singers or actors/actresses, who'd normally work their ass off are succumbing to games during this time. It honestly has been baffling to see how much people haven't known what to do. What I'm writing this for is simple, Make the Most of This Time. I know that restaurants are closed down and we can't go to the beach, or go to amusement parks or go to movie theaters. Things are closed down, for good reasons. However, being stuck at home is not an excuse to just binge Netflix or YouTube or something. You probably know that, and you probably know that quarantine is a time to pick up habits and work on goals you wouldn't normally have time for under normal circumstances. I see it as a way for you to build up good habits like crocheting, painting, gardening (Northern hemisphere is almost to spring), running, photography, woodworking, anything. These habits you build up will allow for great conversation starters when you are in your local coffee shop or at the office, even at school, when all this ends. Another point to make the most of this time is when things go back to normal. Something like this rarely happens. When life comes back most people will start hustling and grinding again. This is a good time to catch up to that level after those years of gaming. Also you may feel trapped right now, but again this situation is rare, so enjoy it. Enjoy the big amounts of time you have to schedule your day. Pick up new hobbies that will create a more likable experience. When we look back on this, most people will be like "ugh quarantine sucked," but are you going to be one of those people? Or are you going to look back at this and think "I got a lot out of that." I'm not trying to make this seem like some sort of motivational speech or anything, and veteran gamequitters will most likely already understand what I have said. Also I am not trying to force you to change your life style or offend anyone if watching some Netflix is something they enjoy. Everyone has their own preferences. I just wanted to inform you that making the most of your time, any time, not just during the pandemic is important. Life is short, and it's bugged me to see that celebrities and the CDC have encouraged games as a good hobby right now. It's disappointed me that so many people, besides work don't know what to do with their time. I just wanted to give the message to create positive experiences. No one wants to look back on their life or at any moment and say "I wasted that." Hope you are all doing well Best Jason

Congratulations on the two months! One month left! I am proud of all the progress you've made! Best Jason

This reminds me, I have to get into the habit again of making sure I clean my spaces every week, and from time to time deep cleaning, I have been kind of failing at that! Best Jason

Sorry you relapsed...that's never fun, but it's a thing to learn from. As Amphibian said you can learn what to differently this time. You said your career was IT based, are there any goals you can reach within that? If so, what steps do you need to take to reach that level? Having goals, even if it's in your career will keep you preoccupied so you're less likely to game. Best of luck on journaling your emotions again Jason

Day 27 Today was really windy, but it was nice outside. Second half of the day was better than the first, because I was lazy. Need to remind myself that nothing good comes from laziness. I think forcing myself to do things might help with getting the things I want done. Of course don't force myself too hard. Hope you had a great day Jason

In my opinion online reading is not a bad thing, as long as you don't just waste hours of time doing it. I found myself from time to time just spending hours on this forum instead of actually doing anything lol. Things online like mental health or meditation can be helpful, especially if you want to learn about it when just starting out. Resources on the internet are more accessible than trying to find a book related to the topic in a bookstore. However as I said before, you don't want to spend your whole time reading these things, that's what makes it bad. Management is key

Day 26 Good day...well for the first half. During the first part of the day I was productive, goal - oriented and feeling overall happy. I biked, went outside, started my laundry, exercised and did yoga. During the second part of the day though, I got distracted by TV, and youtube (laptop) again. In my mind this was fine, but now I am realizing that even though it was fine in my mind, it's not in general. This is because it's a distraction and it isn't productive it doesn't push you closer to your goal nothing. It's useless. This realization though shows that i am realizing my mistakes and today was an example of getting closer to no more excuses so progress! Hope you had a good day Jason

I'm glad to hear you have been doing well recently! Keep it up! Best Jason

After the 90 days it is your choice if you want to go back or not. We can't decide that for you. If you do decide to go back, you should only play as a downtime, everything else is done activity. Playing from time to time as a form of social means is okay but it's not a good idea to play as a way to escape from whatever problems you're dealing with (mental health in your case). I'm sure you're aware of that but if you do go back after your 90 days I strongly recommend caution, because it can turn back into an addiction. For your mental health, have you tried yoga or meditation? If you have how did it work out? Both of these really help me clear my mind and help me connect with myself. You could also write down your thoughts in a more personal journal. These are all ways that have helped me out of the dark times and if you haven't tried them before, i hope they help you out. Good luck on getting to the 90 days! Jason

Day 25 No games today. Decided that today would be the day I stop procrastinating on the hobbies and goals I have. The reason I haven't been following through is fear. Fear though makes the situation seem worse than it actually is, and something new can be nerve racking but if we don't take the risks or actually start, we'll never see the good or the benefits that come from the other side. I'm going to stop making excuses, doesn't matter if I am tired, I will not stop. From here I will re-write what my goals and dreams are. Then I will write down smaller tasks to reach that goal. So for Chinese, I'll write that down and then practice 30 minutes each day, and so on. Will start replying to journals again tomorrow, I will see you all then Best Jason

Day 24, No games today. Today however, I realized that I really love exercising and sports. As part of my workout time I might start running, or biking again! Today I also was able to connect with some old friends from high school. It was nice to catch up. Hoping for a good day tomorrow Best Jason

Day 23 Writing this currently at 3:48 PM. Awesome but weird day. It was great so far because I got college work done and I am on top of it, I cleaned my room and found my Sony headphone charger. I took out my trash, I practiced cursive, I did so many things. What was weird though was I had this shift in my brain. Like instantly, I woke up and I felt like kind to myself and not worried about anything. This might be a sign of me meditating for 5 days, already a fast impact, but that is kind of doubtful. Don't know if this feeling will stay. Hoping it will. No games. Also for my phone, I deleted everything that was mind sucking and will get back on the detox. I will only use it if I need cleaning music or something like lofi hip hop when doing college work. But otherwise I stay off it. (65 days) Lets do this Best Jason

Hey Steff! I am wishing you luck on your gaming detox! However, that is a lot of things to focus on. I really don't recommend trying get rid of ALL energy-taking things at once. Doing so many things and keeping track of so many things can lead to less energy than you might have with one thing and can lead to a potential relapse. I'd say prioritize and choose the biggest things you want to overcome and do those first (but do it one at a time), for example: 1) Games 2) Porn 3) Video Series 4) Reddit 5) Sweets 6) Negative thoughts Idk if this is how you would prioritize it but however you do it, I strongly recommend tackling one thing at a time so you're not overwhelmed by making sure you didn't have sweets or watch anime. I'm not saying that you shouldn't try it, I am suggesting against doing so. If you are going to go ahead and try your current plan, I recommend meditating and journaling here. Meditation can ease up your body and calm your mind. It is also said those who meditate are less anxious and can deal with stress better than those who don't. Journaling here is great for accountability and everyone here is supportive! Best of Luck Jason

Day 22 Another dismal day. But I won't stop fighting! I will never give up! Best Jason

Day 21 No games. Still went on youtube for most of the day. I think I might try setting a time for when to use youtube so I am not using it during the times I need to do something else. Despite this, I am feeling excited! Not sure why. Maybe it's because today I felt attentive during classes and I'm excited for what I'll be doing tomorrow/ in the future? I am not sure. Just feeling really joyous. Did my exercise and worked on my cursive handwriting (something I learned I wanted to do), still need to start Chinese, but planning on doing so after this. One thing I still need to work on is my diet. Although I am vegetarian (still am) I find myself just grabbing what is there in front of me. Reminded myself that you won't succeed or get anything you want in life if you take the easy road. You must take the hard road. Wondered why so many people prefer things being easy if something being difficult is so much more rewarding and you feel a greater sense of accomplishment. Not too upset about today, probably because I am excited right now for some reason, but will keep the things I said in mind. Let's take things one day, one step at a time Best Jason

This is kind of what I told myself when it comes to virtual college classes. "You are only young once, make these times count!" I also noticed that when I actually contributed it was kind of fun. I hope you experience a similar feeling! I am also trying to fix my sleep. For me its bed before 10 PM, and wake up at 5 AM. Best of luck to both of us!

Sorry about having to live with your ex, that must be painful. I hope the move goes well and that you'll be able to get your dream job! That's good to hear! Congratulations on getting money back. I wish you luck on finding a woman. Yeah I feel that too. This happened to me today when I was watching (youtube..... again lol). The circumstances right now are so hard on everyone that I think there is something that drives us to consumption. It's like "Hey we aren't able to go outside and do things, well lets watch Netflix," in which turns into 5 hours. I believe that before covid people, (non-gamers) were so used to the wake up, go to work, do a hobby after time frame that now since that's gone we are making excuses to be lazy, as we are not actually getting up and going somewhere. So I totally understand the need of stimulation/feeling of emptiness. Especially since as gamers we crave that like crazy. I realized when watching youtube, I was like "I really miss that," it was in reference to being at a Baseball stadium and watching a game. What came to me at first was disappointment that I can't go see a sports game live, but then came a revelation. Although we can't do some of the things we were able to do pre-covid, we are now able to do so many things we probably didn't have time for. Like maybe reading, or riding a bike (weather is getting warmer) or photography. All of these might seem small to you at first but if you do them consistently, it might fill that feeling that something is missing. Anything can inspire you, or become your passion even if you think you might not like it. I want to see this too, however, last time I checked it said I needed a premium subscription, which I don't have, I will most likely check back this weekend as well. Best Jason