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Hey GQ's,

Sounds so fancy and formal! My name is Ryan and I live in Kansas City, Missouri. I work some pretty odd hours at a job that allows a lot of time to reflect on my thoughts while I work. Due to the odd work schedule, gaming was a natural source of entertainment. It was cheap, rewarding, and social for me much like it was for a lot of you. Recently I found that I had been distancing myself even more from people in real life as well as my online community. It has been a big month for me. I gave up drinking on my 30th birthday. Today, inspired by this website, I have also decided to give up gaming. 

I started to make the transition away from gaming last year when I sold my PC. I noticed I was spending too much time on various MMO's and it had to go. I replaced it with a PS4, thinking I might not play it as much, and then promptly started a gaming community and got hooked again. I don't really do anything in moderation, my friends constantly tell me I am "all or nothing" and that I dive in at 200%. Part of me wants to believe that is a compliment or an endearing quality, but I am sure it means I lack balance in my life.

I am still figuring out a lot in this new territory, but writing seems like a good place to start. For whatever reason that seems like the easiest way for us to sort through our thoughts, troubleshoot, and reflect. I am hoping I can find another hobby that I can be as passionate about as I was gaming, but in a healthy manner. After reading through some hobby ideas today nothing jumped out, but finding something to fill the time with is definitely my next goal. 

While I am new to quitting gaming, and alcohol, I am actually very happy about it. Part of it is excitement of the unknown, but the majority of it is being happy that I am taking steps towards being a new and improved person. 

If any of you need someone to talk to I love to listen! On the flip side, thank you all for the support and allowing me to get this all down in written form. I hope you all are having a great 4th of July weekend if you live in the US. If you live in the UK, happy recent independence as well!

 

Thank you!

Ryan the Truthful Pirate

 

PS. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask!

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Welcome Ryan! 

I have been gaming on and off and every time I quit for a long time (months) I find my way back to this website. Granted, I read around but don't post much so perhaps keeping a journal will help me out.

Enjoy the ride man!

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@Abimael its really easy to get sucked back in, I have tried to scale gaming back in the past and do it in moderation, but I personally can't manage it. Writing is a good way to fill the time it seems. I think it is mainly just filling the time with something, and writing helps to organize my thoughts. For whatever reason putting my ideas down in a concrete way helps me to move past them. I still need to find a hobby to fill the rest of my time but for now writing gives me something to focus on, it might work for you too! What sort of hobbies and interests do you have? I ask because I am interested and I personally need some ideas :) 

 

@usernameforworldpeace! Hah yeah that is my 10 year old chocolate lab Daria, licking my eye. Might be why I am a pirate now come to think of it, had to give up the eye. (Kidding of course :P)

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Hey Ryan,

Welcome in the forum! Things I use for entertainment instead of gaming are: reading books(mostly nonfiction), exercising( Bodyweight training with this routine ), spending more time with my friends/family/wife,  learning to program python(with this free ebook: automatetheboringstuff), listen to podcasts(mainly to this one) and most recently I start to check out parkour(I love the part of walking around, scouting new areas of training possibilities and the playfulness).

Other things worth checking out would be meditation, martial arts, running or learning an instrument.

Often times at start many of these things sound hard and not fun. But I would encourage  to try some things for 1-2 weeks on a regular basis(every day would be best) and then re-evaluate. Often times we give up too fast on things and if you get into it  a little you have a lot of fun. See it as experiments.

Another point which is helpful at the beginning is to ask yourself what needs gaming fulfilled for you? Did you get hooked because of the social factor? Did you like to be competitive. Is it the measurable progress of a character. All these things can be fulfilled in the real world and tt is important to do so, or otherwise you will fall back in your old gaming habits.

best regards

Mario

 

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@TruthfulPirate I am a second year community college student so school and homework take up a lot of my time (which is good). I use my spare time reading and doing some graphic design. I try to stay active by going out for runs which helps kill the cravings and clear my mind. As for some other activities I would like to try out: hiking, climbing, volunteering (Getting involved in your community can help expose you to new ideas). That's all I have!

 

@usernameforworldpeace! Hey there!

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@WorkInProgress Wow you basically read my mind hah. It is actually scary how on point you were with your suggestions. I actually use to do the Nerd Fitness body weight workout and I kept it up for a while, I never did stick with it. I need to start back up. I like body weight workouts a lot, they don't require a lot of equipment or motivation to go to the gym (cuts out excuses too if you can do it at home). I tried to get into Python and more recently ReactJS but the coding might not be for me. I might have to give it another go, I gave up on it pretty early. That actually sums up a lot of my past hobbies, it may be time to re-visit all of them over the next couple of weeks!

I loved the PvP aspect of MMO's specifically in video games but I actually tend to shy away from competition in real life because I take competition too seriously sometimes, which is another way of saying I hate losing heh. I like improving myself as well so that might be where I will probably focus at first. Writing definitely helps to layout my ideas and do some soul searching. Thanks for all the great advice Mario!

 

@Abimael Nice, sounds like you live a busy life. I can definitely second the climbing suggestion, I have some rock climbing gear sitting in my closet that I gave up on due to gaming, I need to check the gym near me again. That is definitely a challenging and engaging sport, if you like running because it clears your mind, you might like climbing for the exact opposite reason. It definitely requires a lot of focus and problem solving. :) 

 

@dullage Thanks for the kind words! I am about to go post my first journal entry now. Giving up the alcohol was actually a really easy decision, it was pretty apparent how awful it made me feel and my bank account definitely felt the pain too. The sneaky addiction was video games, they seemed so harmless but I actually filled the void of not drinking with gaming even more. My gaming habits got much worse, very quickly. It wasn't until my girlfriend mentioned how unhappy I seemed, that I finally noticed I didn't even enjoy gaming any more, but was spending more time and money doing it. 

 

@Cam Adair Thank you for bringing us all together and being so active with us as well. I really appreciate that you seem to go out of your way on reddit, twitter, and your website to interact with your community. 

Edited by TruthfulPirate
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Heya Truthful Pirate! 

Welcome even though I am a noob here myself... I guess... not to make a cheesy joke of your name but time to move on from YAR work and find land to sow and settle? 

Hope you find it easier and easier day by day to reach for your goals!

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ok silly question but... how did you do that @ leyla thingie... xD

Type @ and then their username, and then wait a few seconds for the database to load. You should see the username option pop up, then click on their name and it will be hyperlinked! :)

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ok silly question but... how did you do that @ leyla thingie... xD

Type @ and then their username, and then wait a few seconds for the database to load. You should see the username option pop up, then click on their name and it will be hyperlinked! :)

Ahh gotcha!!! thanks so much!!!! xD

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