Stev1989PL Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 Hi Guys/Gals, I would like to make a formal vow here and commitment before all of you as I stand in the challenge of breaking the chains of my addiction lasting since my childhood. I have been playing games since being 8-9years trying to build proper structures in Settlers not knowing the English language (I am Polish) wishing that this is actual Bakery and grains from Mill will be delivered there. After that mostly MMORPGs (WoW, L2, AoC, LoL, HS etc.)/ Anyway it lasted my whole life (33 now) with constant rebounds affecting all my potential, studying, relationships with myself and others, countless jobs I have taken, girls/women hurt on the way. The only thing I had true relationship with was gaming. Everything else was temporary. To be honest I have said "enough is enough" many times. I hope this one will be final one. This is my first financial investing into any program as in theory I know it all but it seems knowing doesnt do shit. Wish me luck as I wish you the same. Hopefully we will manage to make our lives worth while (to us and possibly others) breathing on this Earth. I will create daily journal to keep track and staying the course. Marcin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pochatok Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 Hi Marcin! Welcome to the forum, and best of luck to you too! I've been trying to quit for many years as well, and even though I still have relapsed numerous times since joining GameQuitters, I've relapsed much less and for horter periods of time. It is a journey, with its own bumps and hills, but you will get there! Po 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stev1989PL Posted January 14, 2021 Author Share Posted January 14, 2021 Thanks for kind words Pochatok and taking the time to reply! I will do my best, to be honest I wasnt expecting feeling this good just being here and doing actual baby steps towards the goal. We will see how it goes. I have started my journal. Knowing that I have committed here really gives unexpected boost of motivation! How are you doing so far? You mentioned less relapsed and with briefer periods of time. Could you elaborate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caleb Posted January 15, 2021 Share Posted January 15, 2021 Hey man I appreciate you sharing your story I feel we are very similar in a way you're doing well man keep it up we can win this battle with ourselves i am 26 played since I was 5 and it pretty much consumed me ruined my relationships with friends and girl but we can do this day by day bro good luck youll never be alone know this community is your best place to go cheers dude Caleb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pochatok Posted January 15, 2021 Share Posted January 15, 2021 (edited) 17 hours ago, Stev1989PL said: Thanks for kind words Pochatok and taking the time to reply! I will do my best, to be honest I wasnt expecting feeling this good just being here and doing actual baby steps towards the goal. We will see how it goes. I have started my journal. Knowing that I have committed here really gives unexpected boost of motivation! How are you doing so far? You mentioned less relapsed and with briefer periods of time. Could you elaborate? I think I've relapsed 5-10 times since joining, but since I've been at school since January, I have not relapsed in 3-ish weeks. What would lead me to relapse, as I recently have figured out, is high amounts of stress/excitement. Whenever something bad would happen, I had the urge to quit reality and dissolve myself in gaming. But, feeling very good/joyful would trigger an urge to play as well. What helped me: figuring out what causes me to relapse was big. It is very difficult to resist the urge to game for me, so instead I tried to prevent the urge for showing up. Finding different stress-relieving activities (reading, music, doing some arts-crafts) and excitement-relieving activities (exercise, eating) was what I tried to do. Not only these activities prevented my urges from developing in certain situations(I would still feel an urge, but very small), but also helped in reducing the strength of these urges. I still get urges to play at times, but after 2+ weeks, it is easier for me to resist those urges. Okay, and now some small things I've done: ColdTurkey for all gaming-related sites: I blocked reddit (on PC, phone, and Ipad), twitter, changed my YouTube subscriptions, deleted discord, uninstalled steam, and got rid of pretty much anything else that had any gaming-related content in it. I would still use Youtube, but primarily for music and art tutorials. I would still use Instagram, but just to catch up with friends. Oh and, I do allow myself 2 minutes on twitter/reddit daily, but via using a timed blocking app so I never go above that. Finally, I say that you use the journal for more self-reflection rather than a summary of your day/status update. For many people here, gaming addiction is not the "core" of your problems, but rather the outcome of another problem. Not sure if that is true for you, but I encourage to self-reflect in some form every day; it helps tremendously. Hope this helps! Cheers, Po P.S.: these things have worked out for me specifically; they might not work out for you. Use at your own risk! Edited January 15, 2021 by Pochatok P.S. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stev1989PL Posted January 17, 2021 Author Share Posted January 17, 2021 @Caleband @Pochatok Thanks for the reply guys, I appreciate you sharing your stories and insights. I agree that knowing what triggers your urge to go back is a key. I have gone to psychologist with my different problems which indeed intensified the need to play in virtual world to the purpose of escape. He also mentioned and marked the necessity of knowing what pushes you to play. As you pointed out @Pochatok feeling good etc. was also dangerous. In reality it just meant "ok, I am doing better" and in parallel as self-sabotage stating "I have earned few minutes of pleasure" > which in the end fcks us up back to ground zero (or even below) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ristor Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 (edited) I cannot say for sure how successful your attempts will be. Based on our own experience, it is very difficult to get rid of computer addiction. Many people decide to give up the game and think that it is so easy. Given the fact that you mainly play MMORPGs, you often participate in events and various tournaments that have a specific schedule. You yourself will not understand how to re-enter the game and do the daily tasks. In order to play less in WOW, I decided to use the services of the service at https://wowcarry.com/wow/dungeons, which helped me with the passage of dungeons and current events. I still continue to play a lot, but despite this I am constantly working. Edited January 29, 2021 by ristor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stev1989PL Posted January 28, 2021 Author Share Posted January 28, 2021 You sir with all respect wont make a career in motivational speaking!😅 Anyway currently at 16th day of gaming abstinence, little steps my friend, little steps and consistence. Time will tell how this story ends 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samage Posted February 17, 2021 Share Posted February 17, 2021 Don't call yourself a prick. You're a functional human being in training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stev1989PL Posted February 20, 2021 Author Share Posted February 20, 2021 Well, we all need a healthy distance to ourselves here my friend. Otherwise we would go way more crazy than we need to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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