Male, 26 yo, looking for the long lost best version of myself

[WhatAboutToday?]

Hello guys!

Making a quick introduction, my name is XXXXX, I'm a 26 years old male and I've been addicted to games for the most part of my life. It is pretty strange to write that I'm addicted... that is something that I've never said before (and never said it out loud, I just wrote it!) but it's time to really face the problem.

Exactly 166 days ago I decided to quit gaming and porn/masturbation for good. It's pretty curious remembering the exact day that it happened, mainly because I can't recall a "trigger" that made me take the decision at the time. But actually for me it makes sense, because my gaming habits were always something that made me feel ashamed. It's been a long time since I dont feel like myself, I don't feel like I'm living the life I wanted/was supposed to. So, at that day, a key switched in my brain, I took the decision, and I don't regret it at all.

After that, for sure my life got better, but I'm aiming higher right now. The process of quitting wasn't really planned and I don't feel like I replaced the bad habits with only good ones. Joining the forum is an attempt to take this to next level, so I'm pretty excited.

Right now, I'm 166 days gaming free.  After about 120 days, I relapsed on PMO in a stressful moment, but I'm back on track again. Going to start a diary today, so feel free to follow it. English is not my native language, so be patient if the texts are not ideal.

Well, nice to meet you guys, it's good to be here!

 

[Alexanderle]

Welcome, I am also new here. "Gaming-free wise" I am not, where you are right now, but I hope that at some point, I will be there as well at some point. About this "trigger". Maybe the trigger was an internal one. Something like that happened for me as well. An inner mindset shift, which I think is always better than external motivation.

Anyways, good luck here.

Ps.: I have no idea, how you guys can all stay away from pron and masturbation. ^^

[WhatAboutToday?]

11 hours ago, Alexanderle said:

Welcome, I am also new here. "Gaming-free wise" I am not, where you are right now, but I hope that at some point, I will be there as well at some point. About this "trigger". Maybe the trigger was an internal one. Something like that happened for me as well. An inner mindset shift, which I think is always better than external motivation.

Anyways, good luck here.

Ps.: I have no idea, how you guys can all stay away from pron and masturbation. ^^

Thanks!

Yeah, it was pretty sudden. Suddenly I felt really annoyed and just quitted. I was so annoyed that I stayed like hours selling and uninstalling/deleting everything related to games.

About porn, it's not easy... right now I'm on day 7 of another try. I guess what helps me a little is that I have a girlfriend, but it's hard as hell anyways. But I really don't look back: since "quitting" porn my sexual life improved a lot. This virtual stimulation makes to much harm to our brain.

Good luck man! Looking forward to see you succeed!

[Alexanderle]

What did help you? @ismailkanaan

[Alexanderle]

Thanks for the input. That was very helpful. I will try to apply some of the things you mentioned. Regarding health, you hear so many different things. One says, it is important to stay healthy, another doctors says that it does not matter. Guess in the end, no one knows the truth. xD