As of today I've been game-free for 30 days.
I'm sitting here trying to figure out if it's been easy or difficult. In some ways I guess it's been both. I've found plenty to do and have certainly been more productive during these past 30 days. On the other hand, thoughts of gaming still haunt me. I'm not sure if I would call these urges...they aren't that strong. I am struck by how powerful and insidious this addiction can be.
I've also been thinking about something I have always heard about addiction. That is it's progressive nature. A while back I was game-free for two years. For some reason, which I can't even recall now, I started playing again. When I returned to gaming the intensity of my playing didn't "reset". Instead it picked up where it would have been had I not had the two year hiatus. Within two or three sessions I was completely immersed again. It is terrifying to think about.
Anyway, I'm grateful to be free of gaming today. Thanks to everyone out there who has helped me get this far.
Game free since 3/3/2014.
WONDERFUL!!! I'm really happy for you! HUGS!
Congratulations on 30 days!
I look at each day of sobriety as a miracle, so that's 30 miracles in a row. I can relate to the power of the addiction even after having a long period of time without feeding it. I've heard it said that every day I'm in recovery and staying sober, my addict is just outside my door doing pushups and getting stronger. The danger for me after some time of sobriety is forgetting how cunning, baffling, and powerful my gaming addiction is. My mind can trick itself into thinking that I've got some power now that I'm sober and that "I can handle" a little bit of exposure to gaming. I'm just like an alcoholic though, once I take the first drink I'm history. I can't forget that I am and always will be powerless. But not hopeless or helpless. Today I have a choice: my old ways of coping (addictive behavior) or new healthy ways (recovery). Thank God I have that choice today. Glad you're getting some traction in recovery, it gives me hope that I can get victory as well.
Brent (sober from gaming since March 15th 2014)
Congrats man! I've just completed my first month so we're "rivals". Just kidding. I hope that we both won't ever look back. Keep going and be brave :)
"The future is determined by our choices in the present." - Anonymous Author
Congrats!
I can relate to what you wrote about picking up where you left off the times that you went back to gaming. I did too, not immediately, but within a few days or weeks it was as bad as ever. All the responsibilities I'd been doing so well with in recovery fell to the wayside when I relapsed back into gaming, one by one, in a matter of a few weeks.
Good lesson to learn. I don't want to go back to that mess.
What you feed grows, and what you starve withers away.
Congrats on 30 days! And many more to come.
"She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it)." --Lewis Carroll
congrats on 30 days, ManChild!
your words of wisdom from the past help me ... I will keep those words in mind once I get off my Day 100 goal ...
Congrats ManChild! Good to see you again.
It's good to have goals and dreams, but while you're waiting for things to change, waiting for promises to come to pass, don't be discontent with where you are. Learn to enjoy the season that you're in--Pastor Joel Osteen
congrats on your chit
-If it is important to you, you will find a way. If its not, you will find an excuse... -What you feed grows, and what you starve withers away. (Thank you for this Scott) progress, not perfection :) Xbox free for months leading up to 2014 Totally game free since 3/20/2014
This is awesome, congratulations!
"The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past. You can't go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches." "The first step toward change is acceptance." "Once you accept yourself, you open the door to change. That's all you have to do." "Change is not something you do, it's something you allow."- Will Garcia
Congratulations!
Acceptance. When I am disturbed, it is because a person, place, thing, or situation is unacceptable to me. I find no serenity until I accept my life as being exactly the way it is meant to be. Nothing happens in God’s world by mistake. Acknowledge the problem, but live the solution!
Congratulations !! :) ...made my evening! :D