Quitting gaming for good

[PaleCHV]

Day 1: Interesting day to start things off, managed to wake up late today about 9:45am and then took me a while to get out of bed, productive day following this managed to take a lot of cardboard to the tip and lots of other things and drop off many bags at the charity shop, felt nice and productive, got some uni work to do as got some deadlines in February and haven't done any work on those today but it's also an interesting time in my life as today my son came home, he was actually born last year in November but was born early and finally able to leave hospital now, I am super happy that we can all be home as a family but I know it is going to be difficult! I'm looking forward to life ahead and I know it's the right time to quit gaming! 

[PaleCHV]

Day 2: Not a bad day really, first night with son was good, was up a few times but that's going to be the new normal, I feel like I really do now have such great motivation for quitting gaming and turning my life around, I just need to try find the time to do some work! I was too tired to join my friends for climbing today and my partner wanted a bath so it felt like the right thing to do to skip it this week, I won't make a habit of it every week though! Really struggling to get on with some uni work and I think this may only get more difficult as the days go on but then maybe I will find a way to get more done, it's not like I've actually sat down to try do some for much of today, in fact I am going to try to get some sorted now.

[PaleCHV]

Day 3: Not a bad day but not an amazing one either, I managed to do a small bit of uni work yesterday after my journal entry so that is good. We all survived another night at home and then when I woke up this morning I spend the time with my son and was doing some reading, I have been reading lessons in chemistry out loud to my son, really enjoying this book and I have been reading atomic habits myself which is really insightful, I just need to try implement some tactics. I think tomorrow I will try to get out for a walk at least and other than that I will need to spend a fair bit of time doing uni work, I had work at my actual job today which was fine, I work in a petrol station, it's alright just do it part time to try help me get through uni currently. Found myself going on reddit a bit on my phone on the old school RuneScape subreddit so need to clear my browsing history on my phone so that it's not the default thing on reddit!

[PaleCHV]

Day 4: Really struggling with things today, found myself on reddit looking at old school RuneScape and found myself looking through discord chat's about games. Been spending too much time on reddit and then even had instagram and Facebook on my phone, definitely need to get rid of those apps again, can't replace gaming with reels that would be even worse. My uni work isn't exactly going great, got a fair bit I need to do for a deadline on Tuesday so hopefully I will be able to do a bit before I try sleep today and then manage to get some work done tomorrow. The positives today are that I went out for a walk with my gf and baby and that was really lovely but I definitely feel like I have a long way to go still to fully get rid of the gaming thoughts etc.

[Kam]

Hey! Were you from reddit? I think I left a comment on your post haha. Welcome to the forum!

For me, YouTube was a trigger, but I wanted to still be able to use it. I unsubscribed from all gaming channels, then scrolled and marked "Not interested / don't recommend" on all gaming related posts to purge it from the home page. It worked pretty well. I wonder if Reddit has something similar, that way you can still use it to relax but not be tempted by gaming thoughts. If it pulls you too hard though, it might be worth setting up an app blocker for Reddit to limit your time or block it altogether. For iPhone, I use ScreenZen which is free (the author asks for donations). 

It sounds like you need an accessible hobby for small periods of downtime. Reading is mine. Even if I only have a few minutes, I have my e-reader in a place I can always grab it and start reading.

[PaleCHV]

Hey yeah I did post on there, I have a different reddit account which is working okay but I kind of forgot I didn't actually log into it on my phone yet, so I will try that and see if that helps, it probably should do! I have my e reader and I should carry it around more, the problem I seem to have with that is I always feel I can't stop unless I am at the end of a chapter which can often take a fair bit of time for me

[PaleCHV]

Days 5 and 6 - Day 5 was alright, I tried to spend as much time as possible doing my uni work, I was in uni from 10-3 and then when I was home I was just trying to get stuff done, day 6 I handed in my uni work, I am a bit disappointed because I definitely didn't get round to doing as much as I had hoped, so I know that my marks are not going to be what I really thought they maybe should be, I really feel like I am a year and a half into my degree without enough knowledge and feel like I have not put anywhere near enough work in which I really said I would before I started, I have 2 weeks for another deadline so I really need to get my head into this and try as hard as I can to get something sorted. 

On the upside I was distracted enough to not really think too much about video games, and I managed to write a cover letter to apply for a placement year job for my course so hopefully they get back to me about my application, would really like to work for a year and spend that time trying to learn a bit more as well but I do think it will be hard to secure a job as my skills are not what they should be. 

[PaleCHV]

Day 7: Got an interview for the placement job that I have applied for so hopefully that will be alright, it's on Tuesday, had a good day, was at the gym earlier, seem to have been losing some weight recently which is a good thing, didn't get round to doing much work today unfortunately as I have been a busy looking after my son but going to do some tomorrow after my parents have visited. Been on the reddit a few times looking for RuneScape today but it's less than it has been, I just need to keep going, I am hoping that this new way of life will start to click soon and I will keep developing some better habits, I just have to keep trying..

Somehow typed this out yesterday but didn't post it

[PaleCHV]

Day 8: Honestly just feel like I am wasting so much time even though I'm not playing video games I somehow still seem to achieve nothing with my days, today I should have just done so much uni work but I didn't even do any, my parents came round earlier and then I tried to do some but then just didn't and wasted time on reddit, watched some football? I don't understand how I am actually starting to just feel worse about things even though I've stayed away from the gaming, life just seems a bit tough at the moment maybe