Hello, this is where I'm at.

[imdonewaitnowait]

Hi,

I'm extremely irritable. I stopped playing all video games yesterday and I don't know what to do. I feel alone. I'm bored and sad and angry and all I can think about is playing. It doesn't matter what the game is anymore. I don't care.

I never got into playing games online so I never made any online friends. It was just me in my room. I am now 33 years old and I have spent the majority of my life (since I was 8 years old) playing video games. I feel like a loser. People around me don't understand my addiction to video games. I have attempted to stop playing for years but I always go back. I feel like it's not possible for me. It makes me sad to think about all the time I have given, to something I have come to hate more than anything. Still, I want to play. I feel pathetic. But I still I want to play. 

Thomas (Colorado)

[Alexanderle]

I understand your addiction. And I have an idea: Instead of now focusing on "not gaming" and focusing on trying to get away, you can now have the chance to focus on something else. The world is your playground: Do you want to get healthy? Focus on your diet? Learn something new? Try out new things? The only idea of everything is that you use your time and energy on something that actually helps you. Gaming per se is nothing negative. Hating it certainly helped me to change my life, but it is all about your perspective. An advice that helped me: For more than 3/4 of a year, I only focused on my diet and getting ripped. It was all I cared about. I became obsessive about it. It is now even more than that. I am a working out machine. This new passion and power I was able to transform into fighting procrastination and eventually gaming.

So instead of now trying to get rid of something, focus on adding something valuable and new. Start taking care of yourself, like you are a good friend of yourself. You are not pathetic, you are wonderful. You have needs, which you want to fulfill. You have goals. So far, gaming was sufficient to do that for you. Now, it is not anymore. This is your time to explore new facets of life. And don't be afraid of failing. You will fail! But that is good. 

1 hour ago, imdonewaitnowait said:

I feel like a loser.

You are a looser. So was I. We were loosers not because we were gaming, but because we let something let us to be controlled. And this will stop now. From now on. You will become a winner. You will take control!!! I am glad that you are here. The gamequitters are awesome people and helped me a lot.