When wealth is lost, nothing is lost.
When health is lost, something is lost.
When character is lost, all is lost.
- Rev. Billy Graham
Although I don't completely agree with this quote, I nonetheless think that it contains a powerful message and it emphasizes the correct ordering of priorities. For example, being poor is not really particularly bad if you still have your health and your character/morals. On the other hand, I would not want to be rich but in poor health and with poor behaviour.
Addiction to video games can cause your wealth to be lost (e.g., by paying for games, buying "virtual" property, being unemployed or underemployed, etc.) and damage your health (e.g., strains in various parts of the body, not eating proper food, being under or over weight due to not eating enough or eating too much, etc.). However, the worst part is often that it can damage your character. For example, I did not behave as I normally would while playing excessively. I mostly withdrew from society and I sometimes lied which is something that I normally very rarely do. I have read posts here of some people even becoming violent, especially if they feel that access to their "drug" is being threatened.
Fortunately, what is lost can usually be found or regained, including wealth, health and character. However, for those of us who have an addiction problem to video games, we need to first stop playing those games and then work on fixing our character (e.g., with the 12-steps program), with our health and wealth also improving as well afterwards.
- John O.
[em]Carpe Diem![/em] (Seize the Day!)
It does indeed contain a powerful message. Wealth is nice but not always a must have for happiness, at least not for me. Health is a very precious thing but to me character has proven to be the most important. In my last month of gaming my mother in law got very ill and for a while it even looked like she might die soon. This was a difficult time for the family but mostly for my husband who needed my support and didn't get it. Instead I used this to escape even deeper into WoW and neglected my husband. Excessive gaming can have a devastating effect on ones character, looking back I feel like I lost my humanity, my compassion. I just seemed unable to reach out to those in pain back then, somehow it felt like I was not there and even when I was not gaming I still was unable to comfort and support my husband. I am very happy and grateful to mention that my mother on law is better and so far her future looks hopeful.
"Be the change you want to see in the world" -------Mahatma Gandhi.
I love how you wonderfully paraphrased the priorities John! What a super quote that is. I love quotes, in fact, I received a book of quotes from one of my students this year! Maybe I will find a few that would be beneficial to post here! Love, Solei
-6 Years Free of Online Gaming-
what a great post john! i lost so much while gaming and i am humbled how blessed i am to of recieved the forgivness and love i have now. this might sound very melodramatic but i mean it sincerly from my heart; the chipping away of first the outside world (weath money and community) and health (emotional well being and physical) and finally character ( becoming the cruel selfish me) was a slow suicide. imho when character true charater not pixels which are artificical representations of what I "wished i could be" was the last to be posioned i began to contemplate how to finally kill myself. It wasnt until recovery that i understood what a miracle hope is. Dawn
Take the first step in faith. You donaEU(tm)t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.
~Bob Newhart
The minute you alter your perception of yourself and your future, both you and your future begin to change. ~Marilee Zdenek
Maschinca and dawn, thank you for relating your experiences regarding how gaming has affected those 3 aspects of wealth, health and character. Solei, I look forward to reading any quotes that you post here, from that book of quotes or elsewhere.
- John O.
[em]Carpe Diem![/em] (Seize the Day!)
You're welcome John. The truth is I need to remember what gaming did to me. It is so easy now to forget the things I did and said while gaming. It is not about keep feeling guilt or shame but more a simple acknowledgment I can never play WoW again, I will get dragged in and loose myself in it. I have always been the type of person who would withdraw, for a limited time, if I struggled with certain things but it was never extreme until WoW came along. More then that it changed me in way I would have never believed possible.
"Be the change you want to see in the world" -------Mahatma Gandhi.