superiggy Posted April 25, 2017 Posted April 25, 2017 Day #1I woke up at 7am. Instead of gaming, I've watched some Buddhism videos, listened to an audiobook, and I've set up my gaming PC for work and for music production (also uninstalled all games).
KevinV1990 Posted April 25, 2017 Posted April 25, 2017 Welcome to the forum! You already found some good replacements for gaming. Keep it up!
Reno F Posted April 26, 2017 Posted April 26, 2017 Good job! It takes some balls do reach where you are! Congratulations on your first step!
superiggy Posted April 26, 2017 Author Posted April 26, 2017 Day #2I woke up at 7am. Instead of gaming, I've watched some Buddhism and personal development videos, went for a walk, went shopping for some misc items I've been needing for a while, and continued setting up my Linux workstation. I've also composed some music. And got a lot of work done. And it's only 2pm!At times I feel a little bit tempted to play some Overwatch, but...I quickly remember I'm making a positive change in my life and I want to keep it going.Suddenly I remember gaming was not that fun. Similar to the process that helped me quit Dota a long time ago: 75% of the matches you stumble upon flamers, bad players, agressive people, etc. Why endure all that crap?While setting up Linux on my gamer PC I accidentally broke Windows. I know how to fix it, but I think I'll leave it that way. If I ever feel like relapsing and playing games I'd have to go through a tedious 1 hour process of fixing Windows and redownloading the games. Definitely a nice obstacle that helps pausing an automatic impulsive reaction, observing the urges, and give place to more conscious actions.p.s. Thanks everyone for the support!
superiggy Posted April 27, 2017 Author Posted April 27, 2017 (edited) Day #3I woke up at 8am. Instead of gaming, I've watched some Buddhism and personal development videos, practiced a ton of piano, and composed some music. I reconnected with some music production communities and friends, and it's been fun! So... on day 1 I decided to use my gaming PC for work and music production. I installed Linux, which broke the Windows installation (I know how to fix it... but I had intentionally left it like that. No Windows).Today I thought "Maybe I can play a couple Overwatch matches, with moderation". So I reinstalled Windows, and I've just downloaded Overwatch.But before launching the game, I thought of coming here. And NOT playing. At least not today. Playing a couple matches would not be bad per se. But it's night, I am sleepy, and if I play I risk going to bed late. So, fuck it. I'm going to bed. And I will go for a run tomorrow 7am.Overcoming my gaming addiction is giving me A TON of insight about my life. I used to consider myself a moderately fullfilled and successful person, yet now I realize how empty my daily life is, to the point where I was filling my days with videogames.I'm only on day 3, but I'm seeing great changes in my life already. And I know this is also helping me build the mindset I need to overcome other, more difficult addictive behaviors. Edited April 27, 2017 by superiggy
superiggy Posted May 2, 2017 Author Posted May 2, 2017 Day #4Friday. Woke up at 8am. Instead of gaming, I've watched some Buddhism and personal development videos. Had music classes. However, at night, weekend upcoming, I played some videogames. I played a few hours until late night, and I when I went to bed I felt bad for some reason. It wasn't a "Omg I failed the GameQuitters thing, I suck". No. I just felt kind of empty for some reason. I could tell it was sort of a side effect of "compulsive gaming". Perhaps guilt of knowing I'd wake up late the next day?(added retroactively)
superiggy Posted May 2, 2017 Author Posted May 2, 2017 Day #5Saturday. Woke up around noon. Had a pretty unproductive day. I think I made the excuse of "It's the weekend!". I actually had one task to get done (regarding music production) and I didn't get it done. At this point I kind of convinced myself I'll just play as much as I wanted during the weekend and then reboot my detox on monday. While being well aware that this is not an ideal plan, having relapsed played tricks on my mind and convinced me that this was a good idea at the time, haha.This day, again, I felt kind of negatively when in bed about to sleep. The cause, more than gaming, was probably going to bed late.(added retroactively)
superiggy Posted May 2, 2017 Author Posted May 2, 2017 (edited) Day #6Sunday. Woke up around noon. Had a pretty unproductive day too. Again, I was under the spell of self-indulgence and weekend-justification, and played videogames. I should probably have checked this site resources and forums, but I kind of convinced myself it was OK to play during the weekends.While I think it's OK to eventually play in moderation, I think quitting 100% for a while is a needed step in overcoming the addictive/compulsive behavior, so I need to pay special attention in the coming days, but especially next weekend. Damn, the first days were so easy I think I got overconfident and dropped the ball, hah!(added retroactively) Edited May 2, 2017 by superiggy
superiggy Posted May 2, 2017 Author Posted May 2, 2017 (edited) Day #7Monday. Woke up around 11am. Had a pretty moderately productive day. Beginning the week, I resumed my gaming detox, this time it will hopefully last more than 1 week. I'll make sure to continue checking the video resources on this site and browse the forums a bit more. Hopefully that will help.I noticed two things:1. The difficult part is not avoiding games, but conjuring up the will power to do the productive things I want to do instead. i.e. usually when gaming I was escaping some task.2. Compulsive gaming is fun in the moment, but then makes me feel like crap, hinders my energy, productivitiy and mood. So: I should take more care of my future self rather than my current state.I really feel like playing games right now.-- edit: I ended up watching some Game Quitters videos, checking out another module, and I'm going to start reading "The Slight Edge" (I had bought it in 2014, and never read it. lol!)edit: Hmmm. Forcing yourself to do your productive tasks actually makes you feel great. Edited May 2, 2017 by superiggy
30_yrs_of_gaming Posted May 2, 2017 Posted May 2, 2017 Good job hitting the reset button on your detox today! The resources from Cam are really a great help with gearing one's thoughts in the right direction. It's been 3 weeks for me now, but I still REALLY want to game on the weekends. You CAN do this. I'm finding that there really is no shortcut to this thing. It's just one day at a time.edit: Hmmm. Forcing yourself to do your productive tasks actually makes you feel great.^ THIS!!! I'm in complete agreement with this statement. Right on!
Reno F Posted May 4, 2017 Posted May 4, 2017 Slight Edge is a great read! I only read it recently and it surprised me tremendously. Definitely a must read!
Cam Adair Posted May 4, 2017 Posted May 4, 2017 Forcing yourself to do your productive tasks actually makes you feel great.YEP! Well done!
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