To a Better Future!

Hello everyone!

My name is Robin and I am an adult male in my mid 20s pursuing an advanced career in healthcare. I am posting on this forum as a reminder to myself of my commitment to leaving gaming in the past.

My gaming story began at as young as 6 years old, playing Mario at my cousin's house at a Thanksgiving family reunion. From there, my mother had gotten me my first game console and there it began. Over the years of my childhood, I had gotten very into different Nintendo games - like Mario Kart, Pokemon and Smash Bros - spending hours end on end playing them at any free moment I had the opportunity. I went to live tournaments, started my own high school gaming club, and the whole nine yards. And if I wasn't actively gaming, I would spend many hours consuming content on YouTube about gaming. In fact I spent many more hours doing that and fantasizing about games than actually playing them.

I was fortunate to still achieve academic success; but when I wasn't at school or studying, games were all I could ever think about. Spending so many hours gaming and focusing on school, there was essentially no time left over for me to develop myself as a human being in other facets of my life. I had very poor social skills, a low self-esteem, and a very skewed sense of what mattered in life.

When I went to college and grad school, I had left all my gaming consoles at home, knowing that they would take time from me achieving my goals. However, during the COVID lockdowns, I had a relapse into gaming. Being so isolated from others plus the stress of some hard challenges in my family, I felt hopeless and fell into a long episode of depression, where gaming was one of the few outlets I used to numb myself. Fortunately, I have conquered my depression and it no longer holds me down. However, I realize I have spend far too many hours thinking about and playing games, when they truly hold no significant value to the greater vision I have for myself and my goals.

Spending time online or playing games has taken the free time I have for other activities: exercise, personal development, faith, family, and more.

I have gotten rid of my gaming consoles and deleted my Steam account. I want to continue this trend and remove other distractions in my life like gaming that are distracting me from achieving my potential.

To go further in life, I have to use the time that I have wisely. Here's to a better future!