Benefits of quitting?

[dirac]

What are the benefits you experienced through quitting? I want to quit again and I would love some inspiration or motivational stories

[Amphibian220]

You can only understand the benefits when you get to achieve greater goals. Even if you stop playing, you will not experience different emotions. Games will appear harmless.

James Clear advises an interesting thing- because catastrophic consequences for bad habits are always delayed in time, try to bring the pain a lot closer in order not to waste your years. In one example his friend signed a contract that he would pay I think 50 dollars for evey time he broke his rule. The signing part with a counterparty was the strongest safeguard. He insisted on signing a new contract every month, because a verbal undertaking can be reneged on a lot easier.

Visualising myself as an ill, irresponsible and unreliable person 5 years down the line helps in not returning to old ways. I constantly have to look for ways at excelling at a sustainable pace.

The problem of absentees (best description of a gamer is that he is mentally absent) is that a set salary or job is sufficient for him. Given those maximum values, a person can impersonate a professional and do his job as a side hobby. Thats why mediocre goals are not an alternative to gaming.

[goodvibes]

On 4/3/2022 at 3:16 PM, dirac said:

What are the benefits you experienced through quitting?

Through quitting .. I stop skipping meals / losing sleep to game,  focus on setting goals, spend more time outside / with other people, and I had gamed a lot so in turn I get a LOT of time I get to decide what else to do with. It is my time after all for my only life and I am pretty darn tired of giving that away.

[YLC]

I used to have something called "revenge bedtime procrastination" issue two to three years ago. Since I am working in a city, 2 hours of poor traffic jam every single day makes me reach my home very late. I leave my home to work before sunrise, and reach home after sunset. I hate my life but I cant, or at least, I did not think about changing anything during that moment. What I did was to play computer games until mid night to prove to myself that I have control over my life which is not true. I was trying to run away from my problem by playing computer games and I am really lack of sleep which makes me cannot focus on my work.

Until one day I had fed up with the toxic community in the games and I realized that I need a change. To save time from bad traffic, I moved somewhere nearer to my office. As first step, I removed all my computer games and switch to phone games. Then, I force myself to join sport activity to make myself healthy. 

After few weeks, I switched again from playing phone games to watching youtuber playing it (with beer and snacks) meanwhile forcing myself to join more outdoor activities (at least 5 days a week). Now I am addicted to archery and basically I am no longer feel the urge to play games (maybe once in a while, but I am in control). 

IMHO, I think 1) You need to feel the urge to quit gaming. 2) You may go "cold turkey" but that doesn't work for me, so I am kind of downgrade it step by step from computer to phone game for 2 reasons, phone have battery life and you need to charge it which stops you from playing, phone performance is poorer that PC meaning that you cant play high-end graphic burning game in phones. 3) Join as much "healthy" community as possible. I noticed that sport community most likely are kind and helpful people, especially non-competitive sports like archery, swimming etc. 4) Speak/communicate! I gave myself a target to speak with at least one community member every time I went to the sport (regardless of what topic it is). 

Lastly, through quitting play computer games, I have more time to sleep. I start making new friends. I get healthier, less mental stress from toxic community. Mentally, I learn to solve problems instead of running away from it. I developed the awareness of addiction towards gaming.

I felt like wasted few thousand of hours in my life for computer gaming, but then, well, that's life. We were stupid when we were young.

[goodvibes]

On 4/13/2022 at 4:47 AM, YLC said:

I felt like wasted few thousand of hours in my life for computer gaming

Thousands of hours of failure, repetition, and success getting better at playing games while missing opportunities to develop other areas of my life. It sounds bad though this experience of ours is a new phase in human evolution with technology and more importantly, addiction. Welcome to the forum YLC Cam says there are abstainers who can and should quit "cold turkey" and there are moderators who can limit their gaming time effectively so maybe that one is you! Consider starting a journal in the journal thread too the community accountability quitting or limiting your gaming time is helpful motivation.

[Wildermyth]

Some things off the top of my head:

• I have more energy overall and I sleep better. I don't feel stressed about having to progress and finishing my games.
• Doing other other activities does no longer feel like I'm wasting potential gaming time. Even the smaller things like cleaning my dishes feels easy to do.
• My new activities reinforces my feeling of doing something healthy which gaming did not. I'm now in a loop of positive reinforcement instead of a negative one.
• I've grown in confidence as I'm constantly being reminded of leaving gaming behind. Each day that goes by makes me feel stronger and more convinced in that decision.

Edited September 14, 2022 by Wildermyth

[Amphibian220]

This thread is brought back for members to list the improvements after successful detoxes of at least three months. Please help by writing down successes in work, education, physical development, character, charitable initiatives.