Xarsas

Day : 16 Game Free : Yes Health/Mental Notes Today was hard for some reason. Nostalgia really bugged me and I struggled with motivation. Having a rough schedule and my to-do's saved my bacon today. Plus points I stuck to my to-do's and got through them. Potential interest ahead Furthering meditation to work through emotional baggage. Things to work on Want to start day planning in the mornings to build on the scheduling - will only be looking at this in a week or so though - have implemented in a rough way, will refine over time. Socialising

I must say, in a weird way, this move to "bait 'n hook" gameplay development is one of the things that started grating me. I used to be able to sink days into AOE/AOE2 or Settlers III/IV and whilst I would feel guilty after playing, I wouldn't get the grating feeling I started getting when playing our sprawling "open world" games of today like the Far Cry, Assassins Creed etc. games. Even older OW games like Morrowind I could sink tons of time into without it feeling so time wastey as these games feel these days, whether that is just a side effect of growing up a bit, or the subconscious realisation that we are being suckered and let on like donkeys, I'm not sure. What frustrated me immensely as well, was that as a completionist I couldn't "finish" a game whilst it was still in seasonal release. You can 100% it now and in three weeks a new DLC/mini expansion/season drops and wham, the cycle starts again. So yeah, in a way, I'm glad it happened as it cheapened gaming enough for me to start feeling used and decide to get out.

Day : 10-15 Game Free : Yes Health/Mental Notes Last Friday I had to deal with some unresolved issues related to my father who passed away earlier this year. It upset me very deeply so I took a few days off to just get myself centered again. Plus points I managed to cope with everything, game free. This is a major first for me. I obviously took a dive in productivity, but I'm still happy with the results. I woke up this morning and just felt ready again - weird feeling. Having this experience showed me I have some baggage I still need to clear up, so I'm using meditation to attempt to do that, something I probably would never have done before as I would simply have "dealt" with it by gaming in every spare second so I didn't have time to think about shit. Potential interest ahead Furthering meditation to work through emotional baggage. Things to work on Want to start day planning in the mornings to build on the scheduling - will only be looking at this in a week or so though - have implemented in a rough way, will refine over time.

Day : 9 Game Free : Yes Health/Mental Notes Sleep - Not to count my chickens, but I seem to be improving on this front now. Managed another 5AM even though I was up an hour later than normal(have a weekly D&D session with some friends) While I didn't feel tired this morning, I'm feeling tired earlier tonight, possible still recovering or maybe from the slightly less sleep last night. Plus points Thanks to the amount of work completed yesterday I had a lot less pressure on me today. I put some extra time in my learning and also took an hour off to the coffee shop for some fresh air. Potential interest ahead Nothing for now, my time is mostly taken up and accounted for with current activities Things to work on Journalling is now incorporated in my daily planning so that's done as much as I currently want to. Want to start day planning in the mornings to build on the scheduling - will only be looking at this in a week or so though - have implemented in a rough way, will refine over time. Building a list of triggers - for instance some music I used to listen too quite often whilst playing games will trigger a strong nostalgic desire to play. I want to minimise the exposure as much as possible until I get more entrenched in my other habits. - as a side note to this, I think as long as I plan my days properly this will probably be manageable, I'll monitor and decide accordingly as I go along.

Thanks - and yes, It felt absolutely fantastic. I had to replan work this morning due to that though as I had done most of the planned tasks yesterday already - never ever done that before and It just made the last few days all worth the fight.

Day : 8 Game Free : Yes Health/Mental Notes Sleep Got up at 5AM this morning, was tough, bed felt so damn comfortable and cosy, but managed it at last. Still feeling a bit bushed from the hike, should be back to normal by tomorrow or so. Plus points Wow, what a day. This is the most productive I've been in years. I cleared not only todays to-do's but some of tomorrow and Fridays as well. Really awesome day. Potential interest ahead Nothing for now, my time is mostly taken up and accounted for with current activities Things to work on Started expanding on the journalling by doing personal journalling and a brief reflection of the day. - sticking with this still. Want to start day planning in the mornings to build on the scheduling - will only be looking at this in a week or so though. Building a list of triggers - for instance some music I used to listen too quite often whilst playing games will trigger a strong nostalgic desire to play. I want to minimise the exposure as much as possible until I get more entrenched in my other habits.

Day : 7 Game Free : Yes Health/Mental Notes Sleeping is still an issue, did the reading thing and it helped with getting back to sleep. Got up at 5:20AM this morning, still not the 5 i'm aiming for, but I'm improving which is the whole idea. Plus points Went hiking today - drop dead tired from it. Got all essential to-do's done this morning, moved non-essentials to tomorrow to make room for hiking as today was a public holiday. Training is going well Potential interest ahead Learning German - ticking along still keeping here till I know I'm fully on track. Things to work on Started expanding on the journalling by doing personal journalling and a brief reflection of the day. - sticking with this still. Want to start day planning in the mornings to build on the scheduling - will only be looking at this in a week or so though.

Day : 6 Game Free : Yes Health/Mental Notes Sleeping went marginally better. I tend to wake up around 1-2AM and then struggle to sleep. I'm going to rather get up and read for 20 minutes or so and then go back to bed than lie tossing around for 1-2 hours and see how that works. Got up at 6AM this morning, not the 5 i'm aiming for, but still an hour+ gain over where I was, so i'm happy with the win. Plus points All to-do's achieved. Training on course. Got my German lessons in this morning(just). I actually had a pretty good day today - the urges for gaming still come, but they phased me much less today. Potential interest ahead Bike restoration project - integrated, long term as it depends on parts lead times in some cases. Learning German - ticking along still keeping here till I know I'm fully on track. Things to work on Started expanding on the journalling by doing personal journalling and a brief reflection of the day. Want to start day planning in the mornings to build on the scheduling - will only be looking at this in a week or so though.

Day : 5 Game Free : Yes Health/Mental Notes Slept poorly again, I was awake quite a bit and awake at 4AM again, so got up instead of sleeping late. Quite tired today due to that, but will see how tonight goes. Rained today, so stuck to training and bike restoration. Plus points All to-do's achieved. Training on course. Got my German lessons in this morning due to being up so early. Had some time to catch up with admin that I hadn't planned on doing. Potential interest ahead Bike restoration project - integrated, long term as it depends on parts lead times in some cases. Learning German - did first lesson this morning - need to get my waking up on schedule to make it permanent. Things to work on Nothing really, just the sleep issue. As a side note, it actually struck me today how much time I spent on games. Normally while playing the day feels so short. With the amount of work I got done today in the same time, I was shocked.

Hi WIlly, Glad to see you join the ranks. I'm reasonably self-motivated so I normally fly solo, but an extra layer of accountability can't hurt. What time zone are you? I'm GMT+2 so if we can work out timing then I'll be happy to help. I'm active around 7AM to 9PM, although I'm planning on changing that to 5AM to 9PM as I adapt to my new schedules and such. Weekdays I'm quite often out of reach between 8AM and 6PM - work dependant(meetings, travel etc) But can normally respond to Telegram or such. Let me know. Regards, Rich

I'll reply in your thread to keep things organised.

Day : 4 Game Free : Yes Health/Mental Notes Did meditation before sleep again, slept poorly so doesn't seem correlated. Might possibly just be the changes in lifestyle. Will keep meditation going as it's enjoyable. Slept poorly, so didn't hit my morning time goal. Decided not to go hiking, tackled the bike project which is here staring me in the face. Made some great progress on that, so will probably stick with that for now as I can use it for trips and runs to get out so long term more productive than hiking now. Plus points Tackled my Saturday to-do's first thing in the morning instead of leaving till last - list cleared. Will be doing the finance course after this. Reward for the last couple of days is a movie tonight. Potential interest ahead Bike restoration project - started, will integrate in new schedule to get it done. Learning German(not getting up early enough yet) Things to work on Waking up in time to accomplish all morning tasks. Set up rough schedule as I'm using tasks mainly currently.

Hi Proxee, I see this is a few months old - what did you end up doing? I live in a small town myself, so understand your frustration with social activities. I'm not focussing on social too much for now, as I do have a network of friends I can rely on for now. A few ideas though, should you still need any. 1. Religion - if you are religious, try and see what events your local church has 2. Municipal - see if your town maybe has fund raiser events, or if you have an old-age home or some sort of facility in that line, check with them. 3. Library - check for book clubs or chess clubs etc. with your local library 4. Sport - are there any sport clubs in your town? Maybe cycling if you have one? 5. Pick something you are enthusiastic about and create your own club if non exist. Hope this helps you or someone else who might read this. Cheers, Rich

Day : 3 Game Free : Yes Health/Mental Notes Tried a short meditation session before sleep. Improvement in sleep quality, but since it was the first night it might not be connected. Will keep meditating to see. I'm not making the mark on getting up early enough yet, but I think that will come in time as I get used to the exercise and new lifestyle. Building on success of yesterday with to-do list I managed the same again, clearing it off gives a tremendous feeling of accomplishment. I finished earlier than expected and had some free time to spend on household chores so now tomorrow morning I can go hiking instead of cleaning. Plus points Sorted to-do's by importance, tacking highest first and working down. Did all my to-do's Second day of doing the finance course, did a tad over an hour tonight. Potential interest ahead Bike restoration project(need to complete it, started a long time ago) Learning German(not getting up early enough yet) Things to work on Waking up in time to accomplish all morning tasks.

Day : 2 Game Free : Yes Hobbies/Free time fillers identified : Exercise, Learning German & Finance Course Health/Mental Notes Struggling a little with sleep Wasn't as focussed on work and tasks as I would like to be, but cleared my to-do list for the first time in ages. Plus points Started some light calisthenics today, just 30 minutes, will keep it basic for a while to get the habit set up. Taking a course on finance, plan on spending around 30-60 minutes on it per evening. Taking German on Duolingo, plan on spending around 10-25 minutes on it per morning. Potential interest ahead Meditation Bike restoration project(need to complete it, started a long time ago) Things to work on Focussing on tasks by importance