Hello fellow game quitters!

[qmi]

Hey there you beautiful people.

 

 I'm a 19 yo male from Finland who has played games all his life. I remember playing  age of empires with my dad before I could even read any language. I got hooked on games pretty quickly and at around 12 years after my birth I was already a video game addict. Multiplayer games were always a great substitute for friendships, soon I became isolated from outside world and started to stay home and play all day. I can remember some gaming communities that were like families to me, I would meet my online "friends" and have a great time with them. I did not see the problem with playing and being antisocial, heck, I even thought I was being social when talking to strangers on internet.

 

At around age of 18 I realized gaming had became a problem. I felt lonely and depressed instantly after being without my games. I tried to quit, many times in fact, but my breaks from gaming went from day to maximum two weeks. I started hating myself for not having friends or control of my own life. I became depressed, got diagnosed with moderate depression and started doing SSRI meds. This was the roughest time of my life, I hated every moment I played but even more I hated every moment I couldn't play, I was completely trapped inside my head.

 

Then slowly after the medicine started working, I had the power to make greatest decision of my life: I destroyed my steam account, account that had over 10 000 hours of games played and thousands of bucks wasted. There was no turning back, I had finally found the route to freedom. It was still very hard, I spend the first month binge watching every series on Netflix I could find. I was not living fully and I think I was afraid of seeing what I was, how broken I still was from gaming.

 

 

Last summer I met a girl that I really liked, and that came with realization that I can feel again, the numbness from all the ignorance and hatred that I had gained from gaming had slowly vanished away. We did not end together but I think it was a great help gaining access for addiction that was still somewhere there in my head. I became optimistic on life, started exercising daily, started reading more and filled my life with things that improve me. I also quit the meds and have been clear since, yay

 

Now, at the present moment, It has been over 80 days without steam. I still miss some of my online friends. I'm still very lonely. But I'm way happier and I know it is normal to feel lonely sometimes. I'm much stronger mentally and physically than I have ever been in my entire life. It may be hard to stay without games but I promise you it is worth it. 

 

Hopefully you'll understand my English clearly enough and get some inspiration from my story

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2015 by qmi

[Cam Adair]

Hey! Another member from Finland! Awesome! 

Happy to have you here with us. Congrats on 80 days! That's quite an accomplishment. We have an awesome thread to celebrate 90 days so make sure you do that when you get there (so soon!)

Excited to follow your journey. Let me know if I can help at all

[seriousjay]

Hey qmi, it definitely sounds like you're on the right track! If you ever need any extra support, feel free to ask anyone here, we've got your back! I think it would also be great if you started a journal here, if you didn't already. I've found that posting my progress really helps lift me up if I'm feeling a little down.

[wookieshark88]

I take an SSRI myself.  I felt good for a long time so I decided to stop.  I was still doing good for about 6 months until I fell right off a cliff and ended up a big mess.  Don't quit them without your doctor's help.  I always feel obligated to tell people that when I find out they take an SSRI.

Anyways, welcome to the site, and thank you for introducing yourself in excellently written English!

[SpiNips]

Hello! Awesome to see more finns here! Deleting you steam straight up was ballsy move. Great to have you here.