Introduction to this board and Thank you!

55 posts / 0 new
Last post
Andrew_Doan
Andrew_Doan's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 months 2 weeks ago
OLG-Anon memberOLGA memberOutreach
Joined: 06/13/2011 - 9:37am
McPhee wrote: Thanks for
McPhee wrote:

Thanks for the interaction and support, folks! Those strokes will keep me posting here for a while yet. Very helplful.

I have always made my living as a journalist and writer, so it is easy for me to jot down some thoughts for a post. It would almost be hard not to. Thanks for pointing out that not everybody is like that. And I think there is a lot of two-way benefit to be generated from simply reading and being there. On the other hand, I don't seem to get as much benefit from talking with nobody. Good to know you are there. It's important to me.

A few years ago, when I was trying unsuccessfully to stop drinking, I was thinking back to a previous experience quitting drinking and asking myself why I'd been able to do it then but was having so much trouble doing it again. I decided that the difference was that the first time was in a group setting, and that there was something about the group that did it. Groups do have lots of power -- peer pressure, support, encouragement, advice, tips, warnings, shared experiences, etc. So I decided to find a group to help me with the drinking. For me, what worked was an online support group, especially the daily posting to a check-in thread.

After several months off the booze, I wanted to tackle excessive gaming, and to do it the same way. That led me to Olga, and to similarly positive results. Then I got after procrastination, with an organization called Procrastinators Anonymous that also had online daily check-in threads. All were successful.

For various reasons I stopped posting to Olga, and ultimately started gaming destructively again. Now I'm back and at about 3.5 weeks game-free. Thanks, Olga and other posters, lurkers, ex-gamers and ex-gamer wannabes! You are helping me enormously and I am very happy and thankful to be here and doing this as opposed to playing computer games for many hours every day. That is such a messed-up way to live.

I probably won't post for the next three or four days, as I am going on a campout and will have no connectivity, including cellphone signal. But I'll be thinking of all of you and trying to keep the faith.

No plans to game today.

Awesome post! You are a Blessing to people here!

Andrew P. Doan, MPH, MD, PhD

My Gaming Addiction Videos on YouTube: YouTube.com/@DrAndrewDoan

*The views expressed are of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the U.S. Navy, DHA or Department of Defense.

McPhee
Offline
Last seen: 6 years 3 months ago
OLGA member
Joined: 04/29/2010 - 9:43am
Thanks, Andrew! It is very

Thanks, Andrew! It is very encouraging, somehow, to see that even a person with enough ability, focus and persistence to become a Mud-Phud can get mixed up with excessive gaming. Not that I wish you ill or take pleasure in your difficulty. But it helps me to think that perhaps the fact that I have devoted so much time to gaming doesn't mean I'm such a hopeless loser after all. Thanks very much for participating here.

It is four weeks today since I last gamed. I had no opportunity while camping and urges were few and weak in any event. I am hoping to keep it up today. I may start posting on the new website after today.

Meanwhile, thanks to all for your help! No plans to game.

Andrew_Doan
Andrew_Doan's picture
Offline
Last seen: 2 months 2 weeks ago
OLG-Anon memberOLGA memberOutreach
Joined: 06/13/2011 - 9:37am
McPhee wrote: Thanks,
McPhee wrote:

Thanks, Andrew! It is very encouraging, somehow, to see that even a person with enough ability, focus and persistence to become a Mud-Phud can get mixed up with excessive gaming. Not that I wish you ill or take pleasure in your difficulty. But it helps me to think that perhaps the fact that I have devoted so much time to gaming doesn't mean I'm such a hopeless loser after all. Thanks very much for participating here.

It is four weeks today since I last gamed. I had no opportunity while camping and urges were few and weak in any event. I am hoping to keep it up today. I may start posting on the new website after today.

Meanwhile, thanks to all for your help! No plans to game.

You're definitely NOT a hopeless loser! I appreciate you!!! :)

I was interviewed recently:

http://olganon.org/?q=node/51430

"My theory on this is that addictions are tied to genetics. Some Type-A people can be driven hard and drive themselves with little sleep and that's about 1 in 11 of the population. This is the go-getter gene, and when a person can't deal with stress properly and handle it properly, they get bad behaviors. They need to divert their energy into positive things to help society and not be so self-destructive."

Andrew P. Doan, MPH, MD, PhD

My Gaming Addiction Videos on YouTube: YouTube.com/@DrAndrewDoan

*The views expressed are of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the U.S. Navy, DHA or Department of Defense.

McPhee
Offline
Last seen: 6 years 3 months ago
OLGA member
Joined: 04/29/2010 - 9:43am
Thanks, Andrew. It is

Thanks, Andrew. It is definitely embarrassing to confess to being addicted to something as seemingly innocuous as computer games. I know a lot of people share that feeling. But as we who suffer from it know, it is truly no joke. I am very pleased to not be gaming for the last five weeks (less two days). Thanks so much to all the people who participate here and have helped me to avoid excessive gaming. It really  makes a huge difference in my life and in the lives of people close to me. Much appreciated.

No plans to game today.

 

Log in or register to post comments