James Good

Welcome to the forum! I was a speedrunner last year, and it didn't take long for Twitch to take over my life and cause me to go to bed at around 5 am every day (gotta catch those USA viewers haha). I was the #1 speedrunner in the world for my game, and eventually, it was too much. It really can be addictive, especially when you hit that new PB! You're definitely making the right decision, and I'm looking forward to seeing how your journey progresses in the future with your journal (which you should 100% do, it's life-changing!) All the best.

No time to write a post tonight, will get back to it tomorrow morning and reply to you all then! Peace.

Day 9 - 19th June # of days free from: Gaming - 11 Reddit - 11 Twitch - 6 What filled me with enthusiasm today? There was a big meeting in parliament today with executives from EA and EPIC Games. It was a fantastic talk and I managed to watch most of it, but that isn't why I'm enthusiastic about it. The reason why it filled me with enthusiasm is that it reaffirms that there are big shifts happening throughout the world in terms of video game addiction. It's finally being accepted, and the gaming companies are losing the fight, as seen in the meeting. There's a good summary here: Parliamentary Committee Meeting It helps me realise that there's a ton of opportunity for me to do more work with Cam and Game Quitters, and solidify myself in this role that helps thousands of people over the world every month. I'm looking forward to what's in store for the future! What drained me of energy today? Honestly, it's hard for me to pick anything. I wasn't particularly drained at any point. If I had to pick one thing then I'll probably go with my recurring answer - my parents. Man I can't wait until I'm in Thailand. Except to hear me saying that a lot more before I head out in August 🤣 What did I learn about myself today? I learnt that I really can't get less than 6 hours of sleep. I love to think that I could hustle all day and sleep 4 and a half hours and continue, but I really can't. Although, I haven't tried to get 4.5-6 hours sleep + an afternoon nap for an extended period of time. But at that point, I don't know if I'm really saving time. The only benefit I can see with that schedule, is the fact that I'm usually quite unproductive and lethargic in the afternoon. My ideal routine would be working in the morning, lunch, workout, food, nap, work etc. So maybe there's something there in the future, I'll have to test it sometime!

I may have "liked" your post but I'm really just trying to send some love your way. God damn, man, life is really testing you these past couple of weeks. If you make it through this you can make it through anything. We're always here for you buddy. R.I.P Tiger.

Day 8 - 18th June # of days free from: Gaming - 10 Reddit - 10 Twitch - 5 What filled me with enthusiasm today? I realised that I could actually obtain my scuba license and do all of the necessary courses to become an underwater photographer really easily while travelling around Asia. Much nicer than doing it in a pool in the UK! What drained me of energy today? My diet, and my inability to stop watching YouTube videos. I appear to be "addicted" to food videos. Bon Apetit, Sorted, Best Ever Food Review Show, you name it. Should be a bit different when I move to Thailand, however, slow Internet and constant working will put a stop to YouTube binging (hopefully). What did I learn about myself today? Although I'm hesitant to get started, whenever I sit down and do something creative like play guitar or draw a picture, I get engrossed in this powerful flow state. I could do it for hours, except you know, sleep is necessary. I definitely regret stifling my creative side for most of my life, instead choosing to devote myself to physics instead of music. Sure, learnt a lot doing a physics degree, but I feel like a big chunk of who I really am got taken away. Plenty of time to get it back, though!

Day 7 - 17th June # of days free from: Gaming - 9 Reddit - 9 Twitch - 4 What filled me with enthusiasm today? This one's hard to answer, honestly. I got a decent bit of work done, which was great, but it didn't make me enthusiastic. I think what filled me with the most enthusiasm was looking at a load of bars and restaurants near where I'm going to be living in Thailand. I honestly can't wait until I go, August can't come soon enough. What drained me of energy today? Spending the evening with my parents. My laptop had died and there's no space for me to work in my room because I have so much random stuff everywhere and literally nowhere to put it. So I ended up browsing stuff on my phone and replying to emails while we all watched random TV shows. How depressing. What did I learn about myself today? I already knew this, but it definitely helped solidify it, and that's the fact I can't do any work sitting on my sofa listening to a podcast. I also struggle to get work done at my desk. I need to physically leave my house and go somewhere else to work, or else I just won't grt anything done. Again, this is something that'll be much easier when I'm in Thailand living by myself, and is currently quite difficult in a tiny rural English town.

@JustTom depends what you mean by middle class, got a pretty different definition in Thailand haha! I'm living in a decent studio with weekly cleaning for £200/m, going to eat out every meal of the day for a total of £70/week, then when you throw in phone, travel, massages, gym, coffee etc I'm hoping to spend around £650/€730/$820 a month. One of the things I'm looking forward to the most is food. I also drink coffee and alcohol, although the former more regularly than the latter. I'm definitely not trying to live a budget lifestyle!

Thailand's cheap, beautiful, friendly, the food is great, and there's a huge hub of 'digital nomads' there along with the majority of my friends (the life of an entrepreneur I guess). I think it's super important for young men to be out in the world on their own, I just don't think I was ready for it in the past! 😄 I'm currently spending the majority of my time working with Cam on Game Quitters, and in my free time, I do internet marketing and writing for various people as a freelancer after initially learning to be a front-end web designer. I'm happy with what I'm doing, and it pays the bills, but I'd love to spend more time outdoors doing photography. Another reason why I'm travelling round Asia!

I don't think it ever will, unfortunately. But, at the same time, that's what makes it worth living. There's not much I can really say to you at this moment, breakups really fucking suck and they're never easy regardless of the situation. Hard work, time, and most of all - talking to people. That's all you can do, really. I'm not sure I'm over any of my breakups (must be 5 or 6 at this point), I've just learnt to cope with the pain. I think the reason for that is because I didn't have anyone to talk through the situation with. No one should have to suffer in silence.

Day 6 - 16th June # of days free from: Gaming - 8 Reddit - 8 Twitch - 3 Going to try a different format with my journals from now. Instead of just summarising my day I'm going to be more reflective. I heard a great idea from The Ground Up Show Episode 94 (Matt D'avella's podcast), where the guest says to ask yourself these three questions every single day for 30 days: What filled me with enthusiasm today? What drained me of energy today? What did I learn about myself today? I had a bit of a realisation yesterday that I don't really know where I'm going or what I want. I have an idea of where I want to be in 10 or 20 years, I just don't know if the current path I'm on is conducive to that goal. All I can do is keep doing what I'm doing, to the best of my ability, grow as a person and trust in the process. But I'm hoping answering these three questions every day will help to provide me with some clarity. I'll answer these questions for the first time this evening, as I forgot to write my journal for yesterday (which is what I'm doing now) and I can't really remember much about it today.

Thanks Morgan, that means a lot! To the future.

It's interesting that you actually had the opposite problem most people I have. I've never done it before I go to bed but I can imagine it impacting my sleep quite dramatically. I'd highly recommend meditating in the morning, especially before work. It gives you a great sense of clarity and focus, which really helps me to be productive and get into the right mindset to start the day. I was in the same boat, and I think I tried to do too much when I started meditating, which made me get frustrated when I couldn't meditate for a long time and became impatient. Should definitely be a part of your future daily routine, even if you just do it for 5 minutes. Did you notice any benefits from it? And do you think you'll try it again in the future?

Day 5 - 15th June # of days free from: Gaming - 7 Reddit - 7 Twitch - 2 Still no urges. Spent more time with my family which helped. (The ideal schedule for me is 10:30 pm - 6 am) The time I woke up: 8:30am The time I went to bed the night before: 11:30pm Almost first thing in the morning my mum and I went to go and help my cousin move into their new flat. The whole family was helping, doing trips back and forth in the car while a few of us stayed at the flat to unload and take things up 4 flights of stairs. Was a great start to the day, and only took a couple of hours, but it felt good to be active and helpful. I was fasting from roughly 8pm the day before to 1:30pm in the afternoon, so it was a great activity to work up an appetite. I also bought a load of clothes for my holiday to Turkey next week. However, I really don't like supporting "fast" industries such as fashion, especially when I'm able to buy a t-shirt for 1 freaking pound. £1!!! How is that even possible, it baffles me. Regardless, I definitely didn't feel happy about buying it but I was desperate for clothes, that's what I get for living in a country that sees about 2 days of sunshine every year. The rest of the day I did a bit of work and watched some films with my parents. We watched The Dark Knight and Shutter Island, both of which I'd seen before, I just wanted to see my mum's reaction to the films. She loves movies with twists. Tomorrow it's father's day, and I think my dad and I will be playing golf which I'm really looking forward to. Peace.

Day 5 - 14th June # of days free from: Gaming - 6 Reddit - 6 Twitch - 1 Surprisingly no urges today at all. Maybe it was because I was always busy? The ideal schedule for me is 10:30 pm - 6 am The time I woke up: 6:20 am, and actually stayed up, despite having no sleep. The time I went to bed the night before: No idea it was an awful night's sleep What I did in the morning I'd placed my alarm clock on the other side of the room, next to a big glass of water, and actually managed to stay out of bed. I stayed up for a while, watching the golf highlights from yesterday (thanks PST) while drinking a coffee. My parents went to work and I got on with my day. I'd been talking with @ElectroNugget the day before about me getting into drawing. It's something I've always enjoyed but never bothered getting any better. I also haven't drawn an actual finished drawing in over 4 years, so I'm definitely a little rusty. But, the first thing I decided to do with my morning is attempt to copy a fantasy picture, as I'd love to get good enough to create amazing landscapes for D&D games. Here's the reference picture I was using: And here's what I ended up with after about 90 minutes and only one pencil/no eraser: I know there's a lot that's technically wrong with it, and the shading is definitely off, but I'm pretty pleased with it as the first attempt in years. I actually really like most of the picture aside from the right side of it, something about that big wall without any texture is bugging me. OH well 😄 After I spent a bit of time on the drawing I decided to pack up my laptop and go down to the restaurant I used to work at, have some coffee, and do some writing on an article. It was actually really productive. I've never worked from a 'coffee shop' before but I really enjoyed it. I got most of the article done, and should easily finish it up this weekend. Things are looking really good. I also had the luxury of treating myself to some incredible BBQ wings and a steak sandwich! Definitely going to make it part of my routine to go there for coffee most days of the week. Not sure there's much more to talk about. I'm doing some online courses to improve my drawing over the next few weeks and found a big box of artist's coloured pencils upstairs which I'll try to use. My next task is a sunset picture with mountains using watercolour pencils. I'm also going to eventually learn digital art and invest in a drawing tablet. I'd love to be able to create stuff like the image I put in earlier. Peace.

I do, yeah. Although I'm moving to Thailand in a couple of months. I don't like living here at all. Their house is in a tiny rural town in the English countryside, and there's no one in the town who shares the same interests as I do. I also feel trapped here, and it's very easy for me to become demotivated, which is why it's so important for me to have a workspace outside of the house. Despite all of that, I'm so incredibly grateful that they let me live in their house. My parents have always been there for me when I needed it most, when I've always been at my lowest point. It's also impossible for me to stay up late or do dumb shit, which is another great bonus. I'll definitely miss them when I leave, but I think I'm finally in a place where I can make it work. Previous times I'd live alone didn't work out too well!