LifeRound2

Yeah, 25. Congrats on the 90 days. For work, You can do it! I had to put out 100's of applications/resumes before I got a couple interviews. Work is a win-win, social + financial. After watching the video on Dopamine / Brain Chemistry before/after 90 days, i'm excited to return to baseline.

I started gaming at the age of 10 with a new gaming PC, how exciting! Fast forward 15 years later and I feel like I'm waking up from a dream. I'm currently 80/90 days free from gaming, and i'm not planning on stopping there. I started gaming while looking up to my older cousins who no-lifed MMOs such as Ultima Online, Runescape, Everquest, and later on.. the dreaded World of Warcraft. I've done fairly well for myself, played sports like soccer, football, and swimming, participated in some clubs like speech and debate, and throughout highschool and uni made OK grades. However, I always felt as if all these activities were just in the way of my gaming time. My addiction was amplified with the release of WoW, and I played non-stop around 10-12 hours a day for years straight, often 14-16 hours over the Summer. My parents didn't mind at all. When I started at university I made the decision to quit gaming. For the first 4 semesters I made exceptional grades, tons of friends, and was incredibly happy. Everything was going well, then during the Summer I got a call from an old highschool friend.. the new expansion Cata was coming out for WoW and he dragged me into it. I remember saying, "Oh, i'm done with that, i've moved on... but i'll play casually". Casually indeed... After a month of playing or two I decided I would make a push for gladiator 3's. The next semester was an absolute tragedy.. My grades dropped, most of my friends moved on after I stopped returning their calls and texts, and I stopped attending most lectures. I just had 4 cups of coffee the day before exams and passed. Sadly, this habit stayed, and I started League of Legends. My ranking in soloQ became a sole source of pride.. After 5 years I graduated with grades that looked like the right side of a bell curve. After moving home with the parents post-graduation I had no job lined up and I blamed the job market, coincidence, and other things for my failings. My parents were sad and confused after I had done so well for the first 2 years (on track for law school). I felt so worthless and pathetic for failing to live up to their expectations, and my own. My parents had provided so much opportunity and I had squandered it. I decided to commit fully to quitting gaming and alcohol. I have to say the HARDEST PART was (and is) telling friends no to online gaming sessions. The first week was hell, but after selling my gaming peripherals and hardware I felt less tempted. I found a job and started filling free time with all kinds of shit like reading, meditation, tennis, jogging, weights, training my dog etc. After 80 days i'm starting to feel free from curse of gaming addiction once again, and more resolute not to slip again like I did in university. "what ifs" still tear me up however... "what if I didn't get that call to play WoW in uni or said no? Where would I be? What would I be doing now" etc... But i'm in a good place. Several videos from Cam have helped via youtube, and bloggers here as well. It's time to level up in real life