DAY 1 UPDATE: I posted a shorter version of my story about my gaming addiction on @games and got a good amount of responses what has help me busy through the day but I tried to make progress on the moving away from gaming front.
My goal today was to edit 1 hour of footage down of my one and a half hours left of footage I have from 3+ months ago, I'm proud to say that I was successful in doing that, I done this by playing 1 game of CS2, editing for about 10-20 minutes and then playing another game. This sadly meant that I still spent more time gaming than editing but it's a good step.
I know I have my mum coming around tomorrow to take me shopping for some small bits around the house that I've been needing but I will most likely spend the time after we've done that to edit a bit more and probably flip between CS2 and editing like I did today. I have a total of 30 minutes of footage to go through and then have another recording session to edit into it (a lot less and recently thankfully) so hopefully I can get this full edit done by the 5th? but I've gave myself the deadline of the 8th (November 2023).
My goal after I run out of footage is to create more, as it's actually of a vlog I was originally doing daily about a year ago, I think it's time to go close or if not daily again (Once I have this edit done). The hope is by vlogging it will replace the urge to play games so much and will keep me on my toes to create stuff. For the better me, Wish me luck.
If you're using video games to self-medicate some other issue in your life then avoiding games by itself without addressing the deeper problem isn't necessarily going to get you to where you want to be -- especially if you do end up replacing that time with TV shows and other escapism as you mentioned. Have you tried talking to a therapist about it? A good therapist may be able to help you figure out what exactly you're avoiding and how to deal with it in a way that's more conducive to your goals.
@e0qdk I can't really afford a therapist as of the moment, actually one of the reasons I feel I need to break this cycle actually. I know that it won't fix the problem as such, I just know that relacing it with something less destructive such as my Video Editing passion would be better but like you said I might just end up replacing it with something just as bad such as Watching TV Shows or possibly something worse.
I'm very unsure on what steps I should take to fix these parts of my life, someone suggested that I should maybe Gamify the parts of life that I want to focus on to possibly get that 'rush' when doing the non-game tasks, this I feel might be a good step as it would allow me to feel some sort of rush without doing gaming for once.
Maybe I should seek help, and I will if I can ever afford it.
If you have any sort of access to health care (e.g. from work's health insurance, college mandatory coverage in some places, parents'/relative's/SO's/etc. insurance in some places, national coverage in some countries) you might be able to get a referral for at least a few sessions to explore your issues with a professional without having to pay an additional fee. I started talking to a therapist for my own issues earlier this year and it turned out that as long as I did it over Zoom I was covered for 10 sessions (which could be extended, if approved) without out-of-pocket expenses. I was expecting to have to pay a $20/session co-pay since that's what it was on a previous attempt (which fizzled since in-person sessions that I had to drive to with my issues just... really didn't work very well) but phone (including Zoom) sessions were covered differently. YMMV, but it may be worth at least asking your doctor's office -- if you have one -- what it actually would cost if you haven't checked recently.
You might also get some benefits by journaling every day. I describe how I set up my own journal here if you're curious what I track.
@e0qdk Thank you, I will be getting in contact with my doctor soon, it's just harder to find a doctor right for me as it's not just my addiction that is the issue but I'm also Autistic and am Trans, not many doctors understand one of those let alone both as well as can handle a Gaming Addiction serious. Hopefully I do get to the stage I need to but it all takes time.
DecidingToBeBetter@kbin.social
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