Falling Into a Deep Hole

[jrome777]

Hello everyone, my name is Joe from Fort Lauderdale. I've been gaming for a long time. The game that I'm mainly addicted to is called Counter Strike: Global Offensive. I've also played the previous versions of this game since 2007. For some reason, I don't really get hooked with single player games. I've heard of people saying that they are addicted to Skyrim, but I get bored with those types of games after a few hours. It is only the competitive fps games that I get hooked to. Few months ago I lost a day of work because I stayed home playing Apex Legends. I remember that I started playing Apex on a Saturday and I would say to myself every time, "Just One More Match."  Well, I didn't play the last match until Monday morning. There were many instances that I've done the same thing in the past causing me to almost drop out of high school and lose a job.

Then in late 2015 I decided that I have to quit this self-destructive behavior. I sold all my gaming equipment and by the beginning of 2016 I decided to pick up a new habit which was to read books.

I was never a reader in high school, and I hated it. I couldn't imagine myself sitting down to read a book. But I did it. By the end of 2016 I ended up reading about 54 books. Now I enjoy reading. But after that experience I still found myself relapsing back to my gaming addiction. Wasting money on a gaming pc plus the peripherals, then selling it back online or giving away my gaming peripherals to friends, then after few months I would repeat this cycle. Claiming to myself that this time I will control myself, failing every try. That's why for me, personally, gaming does not only bring me steps back from progress in my life. It is also like falling into a deep hole, which then I have to try very hard to climb out of, so that I can start moving forward again.