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How Do I Stop the Urges?


HelpMeStop4Ever

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Okay, so I've been playing video games basically daily since I was 4 years old, usually for more (much more) than 3 hours every time. I had some day/week-long breaks over the years from video games. I'm about to turn 22 at the end of this month, and I really want to quit gaming forever, to never ever return to video games.

 

I didn't do much at all today: I worked out at the gym for about 35 minutes and then I went home, did some homework and that was it. I have a job, but since there wasn't any necessary work for me to complete, well, I played video games instead. I feel very guilty, at this point in time, it's 90% guilt motivating me to quit and 10% actual desire to improve my life.

 

I made it to over 100 days without playing video games this year, from April until August. But as of the last month, I've been binging on playing video games back and forth, basically every other day. And yes, I still feel guilty for returning to video games after 100 days.

 

I just feel like such an idiot right now. I quit PMO once and for all, and yet here I am still stuck trying to quit video games. What really bothers me are the urges to play video games because the urges are like a giant distraction in my mind that seemingly won't go away. When I am doing something and the thought of video games occurs, it doesn't matter what I'm doing, the thought of video games keeps recurring.

 

I've been praying and praying asking God to help me finally quit video games, maybe I'm not praying hard enough. I recognize that, even though I have a few friends, I need more friends, and that video games must to some degree have an effect on my desire to socialize and make more friends. I've never had that many friends throughout my life. I just want to quit video games and never return. For some reason, I'm hesitant about deleting my Steam account, mostly just because of what my brother and 2 of my friends (irl) would think of me doing that.

 

I played video games for over 6 hours today, and I'm certain as to why that was: because I had intense urges to play when I woke up. I had urges yesterday around noon, but it didn't result in me playing video games. I've been realizing this year that these urges feel like they'll never go away unless I play video games. The urges are what keep leading me to video games because the urges just don't stop. How do I stop giving in to playing video games? How do I stop playing video games FOREVER? How do I make these urges stop?

 

Please, please, please help me to quit video games forever, guys. Please help me to find a way to stop the urges or at least to stop giving in to the urges. Any suggestions at all would also be so much appreciated.

 

Thank you.

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1 hour ago, HelpMeStop4Ever said:

I played video games for over 6 hours today, and I'm certain as to why that was: because I had intense urges to play when I woke up. I had urges yesterday around noon, but it didn't result in me playing video games. I've been realizing this year that these urges feel like they'll never go away unless I play video games. The urges are what keep leading me to video games because the urges just don't stop. How do I stop giving in to playing video games? How do I stop playing video games FOREVER? How do I make these urges stop?

Maybe you could write down what makes you happy/ you enjoy doing that's not games. Once you have that list you should start work on them so they become a habit. Another thing you can do is brainstorm and see what triggers these urges, how they make you feel and what you can do to combat them. Something that worked for me was telling myself things like, "Think of all the things you can accomplish if you don't play," and "You'll feel a lot better in the end if you don't play today." These statements really helped me with not giving into the urges. I would also try developing some new hobbies and time blocking them into your schedule. If you don't have time to play then why play? That could also maybe help. 

Here is a list of hobbies that helped me find some hobbies: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hobbies

Also what are your priorities? What's important to you right now? What are your goals? What do you want to accomplish in life? These are all good things to write down so you can remember them. These are all the suggestions I have, hopefully some of these help you. Good luck on conquering the urges and games!

 

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Don't try and fight the urges, that is going to result in emotional turmoil that will make the situation worse (and may ultimately lead to you relapsing).

Instead, sit down and work out why you are feeling these urges. Write them out. Change your environment - if you're in front of your computer when you get the urges, then go outside, go for a walk, change rooms.

You need to recognise why your brain wants to keep playing. Is it urges to play or is it nostalgia? I struggled a long time with recognising what the difference is. If it is nostalgia and you are remembering all the good times that you have had, then fine, enjoy that part and move on. There is nothing guilty about having fun in the past. But if it is urges such as trying to escape from stress or your current life, or the desire for social interaction, then we need to attack those symptoms first. We will have a much better result if we attack the source of the problem rather than the symptoms themselves.

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