A New Beginning

[drflox]

Hello everyone, I'm new here . I basically decided to quit gaming during the interview with Molyneux. 
I am still a bit embarrassed to admit this addiction (I would have claimed it doesn't exist until recently). So to keep my anonymity, let's just say I come from somewhere in Europe and I am over 30. 
I've been a rather heavy gamer ever since my brother and I got our first Super Nintendo in elementary school. Even though I always had a decent gaming PC and the latest games, it didn't seem to affect my school performance very much. I was just a smart kid and as long as I brought good grades home, my parents supported my hobby and paid for new PC hardware and games ("better he stays in his room than drinking alcohol and smoking..."). The problem was just that I had absolutely no social life, except for one or two best friends (with whom I just played games all the time). 
Getting older, my gaming habit became more and more problematic and my social deficits due to lack of experience more and more noticeable. At the university, I felt totally out of touch with the people my age. So, gradually, gaming turned into an escape from reality. Even though it wasn't even as much fun anymore as it used to be, I found myself incapable of doing anything else with my free time. 
Anyways, skipping forward a couple of years, I got this great opportunity to move to Korea and work here. It had been a dream of mine for a long time, and I never thought it would become true. I was aware that it will be a challenge, in addition to starting a new work, which is always hard, I also have to learn the language, different customs, organizing everything without any help from parents or friends, who are all far away. But I was motivated to tackle this challenge. 
But what did I do instead? Every evening, I immediately opened my laptop and started some stupid game, and didn't stop until late at night. No time for studying the language, no time to make new friends, to cook something etc... I even started to notice some severe sleep deficits. Gaming had been my way to cope with stress for a long time, and this new situation was more stressful than anything before, so the gaming got totally out of hand. When I then even started skipping workdays (I always had some reasonable excuses, e.g. I had to wait for the delivery of furniture or important documents at home, pretended to "work" from home, ...) and started spending whole weekends nonstop gaming instead of exploring my new surroundings, while ignoring any calls and messages from friends and family, I realized something is now out of control.
That's when I begrudgingly decided to listen into this Molyneux-Cam Interview, which  - as a regular molyneux listener - I had seen on the podcast playlist for days, but ignored... maybe out of fear that it might challenge me. Well, it did. And the challenge turned out to be easier than I expected! I didn't hesitate to uninstall steam, and didn't have any desire to go back since. Maybe cravings will come during the 90 days of detox, but for the moment I am absolutely motivated to finish it. I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I finally have time to focus on the things that are really important.

Edited November 15, 2017 by drflox

[Regular Robert]

Welcome drflox!

Glad to hear that you are totally motivated and like many other people, you decided to reset your priorities and improve instead of slowly letting everything slip away. Nice to have you on board. Depending on where you are right now, it will be helpful to organize some resources for the near future, e.g.: What can you do if cravings come around and such? Also, be sure to start your journal if you haven't already. It is an invaluable tool and will help you on your path. But enough for now. Glad to have you around and keep the attitude you got right now, its golden!

Also, I am 31 and from Europe as well. You are not a unique case, no need for shame or such.

[Hitaru]

Welcome @drflox! As Robert said, no shame here, we all have our stories and avoidance of the issue or defensive attitude is the norm, myself included, so you're not alone in that. The important thing here is that you value your own judgement. If you know it's a problem for you, it is. If you want to quit, whatever the reason, it's fine, valid. Do your own thing and give it the relevance you believe it deserves.

Happy to have you on board!

[Cam Adair]

Welcome! Glad you enjoyed the interview. Let me know if you need any support, we have your back.