GrainSiloEnthusiast 319 Posted April 16 Author Share Posted April 16 Have to admit, feeling quite triggered by being in the same room as my wife while she plays Stardew Valley (one of my favorite games) with her nephew. I try to remind myself that I barely have time to do the things I currently want to do, I have nowhere to fit gaming into my schedule without sacrificing the other things I want to be doing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrainSiloEnthusiast 319 Posted April 24 Author Share Posted April 24 On May 1st it will be 11 months since I last touched a video game. I've really been missing building in The Sims and it's still something I go back and forth about doing once my year long detox is over. Even though there's a couple other games I miss, I know my life is better for not gaming. I don't like who I am when I game. There's so many other things I want to do and I won't have time for those things if I'm gaming. Because I can argue that using The Sims for house building, and Only for house building, is a creative and productive activity... I need to set boundaries so that it doesn't turn into a full blown relapse if I do decide to use it. I have decided that, as long as I work within the boundaries I am setting for myself, using The Sims to build will not count as a relapse for me personally. (Drawing comparisons is something I do that helps me make sense of things. The best comparison I can draw between this and my drug addiction recovery is: I am allowed to use medications, even if said medications do technically get me "high" under the right circumstances, correct dosages, with supervision. As long as I know I am using the substance responsibly, I do not consider it a relapse. I was on opiates for weeks after my C-section and I did not consider that a relapse. It did not Feel the way a relapse Feels. This is an example of using drugs as a tool, the healthiest way to use them.) Boundaries for using The Sims as a design tool: >No "live mode". Build mode only. >Only when daughter is at school or otherwise out of the house. >Partner gets first dibs at the computer, because it is her computer. >Still not allowed to consume Sims content for entertainment (streams/YouTube/etc.) >Have an idea or plan before starting. Don't use this as a way to muck about and waste time. Having fun is allowed but it needs to be a byproduct and not the goal itself. >Keep a written record of projects for accountability purposes. (...I'm actually having a hard time coming up with things? If anyone has any further ideas I'm up for hearing them.) If it still feels like a relapse even with all of these boundaries in place, I will have to remove The Sims completely from my life again and reset my clean time! Hopefully it won't be that way if I do decide to do this, but that's the risk I'm taking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrainSiloEnthusiast 319 Posted May 9 Author Share Posted May 9 78 days without Reddit! 6 days of avoiding using my phone around my toddler! And averaging about 1 hour of phone time total. I also have an unofficial goal to only watch 1 episode of TV a day, which I am flexible with because some days I don't watch any TV at all. I have definitely stopped binge watching, that's for sure. Last but not at all least... 11 months without gaming since May 1st! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faroe Islander 128 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Props to that, congratulations on making it so far and hope you keep going strong 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoe 106 Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 On 6/3/2020 at 4:09 PM, GrainSiloEnthusiast said: Today is day 13. Woke up at 9:45 again. Should be able to maintain this, and it feels so much better than waking up at 11 or later. We walked our cats today. Yes, with leashes and everything, like doggies. We have dog-cats. Shiro even plays fetch! They always get a kick out of that, even though they primarily spend the entire time eating grass. We should grow some cat grass... What kind of cats??? I have 2 ragdolls..They are sort of known as dog cats. I would LOVE to leash train them. I think my 6 month old girl would (zoe). Frankie 14 months) probably not. He's huge (16 lbs, not fat, just huge). Huge but a big olee baby. Lol. We took him to the vet for a check up the other day and he cried so hard they told us they can't see him without some anxiety meds, so we had to reschedule and will give him some gabapentin a few hours before next time. I haven't read your entire journal so not sure about what instrument you are playing. I have a gorgeous clarinet in my closet that hasn't been used for years. It would be kind of fun to reteach myself how to play again. I know this post is 2 years old, it just caught my eye because I saw cats! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrainSiloEnthusiast 319 Posted May 14 Author Share Posted May 14 My average screen time the last 7 days has been 49 minutes! It had been 2.5 hours before I started my goal to not use my phone around my daughter. Even though a lot of that screen time had been reading, I'm trying to either listen to audiobooks or actually get paper books from the library. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrainSiloEnthusiast 319 Posted May 14 Author Share Posted May 14 On 5/10/2023 at 4:48 AM, Zoe said: What kind of cats??? I have 2 ragdolls..They are sort of known as dog cats. I would LOVE to leash train them. I think my 6 month old girl would (zoe). Frankie 14 months) probably not. He's huge (16 lbs, not fat, just huge). Huge but a big olee baby. Lol. We took him to the vet for a check up the other day and he cried so hard they told us they can't see him without some anxiety meds, so we had to reschedule and will give him some gabapentin a few hours before next time. I haven't read your entire journal so not sure about what instrument you are playing. I have a gorgeous clarinet in my closet that hasn't been used for years. It would be kind of fun to reteach myself how to play again. I know this post is 2 years old, it just caught my eye because I saw cats! My cats were a tuxedo, a tonkinese mix (same litter as the tux!!), And a dilute tortie. I say were because we rehomed the tuxedo recently. She is now my friend's emotional support cat!! The instrument I mainly play is the kalimba 🙂 ❤️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoe 106 Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 14 hours ago, GrainSiloEnthusiast said: I say were because we rehomed the tuxedo recently. She is now my friend's emotional support cat!! Awww, yay for helping your friend out. Also tortie's so cute. I have two things to look up..tonkinese and kalimba!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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