Hi my name is stew and im totally addicted to videogames.
a little about myself.
the good.
Im 29. have a great job, am healthy, have a great relationship wth an amazing supportive partner. am financially comfortable. have a happy attitude towards life with no depression or anxiety.
the not so good. Im totally obsessed with a certain videogame. I have finally decided to stop because i dont want it to seriosuly start damaging my life. I would play at every opertunity i could. massive benders, no sleeping, staying up all night and the next day. callin in sick from work just so i can play more. leaving my wife in bed just so i could play more. i would read the game forums when i wake up. thinking about the game while falling asleep. everything was fine but i coul see that its not healthy. I would lie about how much i would play and would prefer to stay home and play ratehr then see my fiends. I would make excuses to myself about how much i was playing and it really is like a drug. I was needing bigger and bigger binges or hits of videogames to feel satisfied and i was aggitated or counting the seconds until i could play them again.
the thougt of sitting in a dark room alone with nothing but a computer and the internet is farm more appealing then most people would realise. and i dont want my life to be like that.
I dont think i can every play videogames again. not socially not ever. im an addict.
I want to be in control of my amazing life and computergames just have too much power over me. i know its only day one. 1. but its a start and i think this is the first step.
here are some things i know.
1. i am an addict.
2. i can never play again becasue i will just relapse into addiction.
3. i am scared about what to do with my life becasue i dont know a life without videogames.
4. my life is going to feel different now i have cut videogames out. i will need to fill that void with positive habits like exercise, gardening, cooking ect.
5. my wife is so supportive and amazing. she has listened to me and believes me when im asking her for help. she has not asked me to change at all. she is just supporting my descisions and i want to change.
anyways wish me luck. living in aus i dont think i can attend the meetings because of the time difference.
taking my life back, game free since 20th jan 2015
Hey poprocker, first of all let me welcome you to olganon ! What you are describing can be related to many of the people here. You already have a good life, but gaming is just that barrier from making it become even better/great and you want to start living to your full potential. I dont believe that quitting should be too hard on you, with a job and a lovely wife which you described you should be able to keep busy throughout the weekdays. Id advise you to use the next few weekends for catching up with those friends you talked about neglecting for your videogame. The sooner the better, replace a portion of your gaming time with other creative activities such as playing a musical instrument ( guessing by your name , you should already be into that). Sports are always great and are a much better "relaxant" after a stressfull day than videogames are, so start exercising ! Take care and take the quitting one day at a time, you can do it :)
Video game free since 01/05/2015
Hi Stew,
Congratz for making the decision of quiting gamin. You must find strong reasons to quit in order to stay focused on quiting. I had the same problem as you of not knowing what to do with my life without games and i relapsed many times because of this. Gaming was my life. After 2-3 years i found out it's imposible to quit gaming when you don't have any goals in life. So decided to analyse myself and find out for what i live for. I saw what talents i have, talents gave by God and now i want to develop them as much as i can. I belive i insult God and my parents if i waste my life and this is a strong enough reason for me to stay away from games and other useless activites. I live for God and i live because of my parents. I don't want to disappoint any of them anymore. i want to be thankful deep down in my heart for this life and enjoy it as much as i can.