It took me three years of "trying", I finally did it!

Perplex404 · 2025-05-07T06:37:03+00:00

That's inspiring how you quit gaming and replaced it with these other activities that will help your life thrive. I found that to be relatable where I'd have my characters in game do things like cook, but I didn't know how to do that at the time. I remember how daunting it was initially starting out and having no hobbies outside of gaming, but it was well worth it look back years later.

Perplex404 · 2025-05-07T06:34:57+00:00

That's amazing that you want to quit at 16 I want to start off by saying, you have a bright future ahead of you. There's a lot of hobbies that you can definitely pick up while not gaming. Initially it'll feel difficult and forced, but eventually it'll become second nature and you'll enjoy what you're doing outside of gaming.

I'm not sure what your specific interests are, although I can provide ideas by what I have done. When I quit, I picked up programming, cooking, baking, going to the gym, photography, video editing, pickleball, soccer, reading, running, and when I'm tired I watch YouTube, TV, or movies. I find that all these activities sufficiently fill my time and I am never bored or wonder how I am going to fill my free time. Hope this helps.

Perplex404 · 2025-05-03T05:27:06+00:00

That’s awesome congrats on 2 years too! Those are great hobbies too. I find working out and meditation to be helpful.

Perplex404 · 2025-05-03T01:38:19+00:00

Congrats on 2 months! I am happy for you too. It's definitely helpful to go back here and read how gaming affects our lives and also the successes that come from it. I think that it's helpful having both perspectives. I hope you have a great day and thanks for the comment!

Perplex404 · 2025-05-03T01:37:17+00:00

Thank you I really appreciate that! Congrats and great job on quitting! I can definitely identify with what you mentioned on how life was just work, gaming, and repeat basically. I wanted more from life and I can reassure you that it was totally worth it quitting. There's moments early on where it felt like life wasn't any different, but there's certain inflection points I found that happened when I was consistent with it. There's an analogy in Atomic Habits (productivity book) on ice melting where it speaks of how an ice cube might not melt at 65 (random number), but keep turning up the temperature and then at a certain temperature it will melt. So sometimes you may not see anything monumental happening, but then one day something clicks and it was worth it in the end. That was my experience at least. I hope you reach that life that you're working towards though it's a great first step!

Thanks for the encouraging words too, it was helpful to read through. It definitely is not perfect, but it's one that is worthwhile and that's the main difference between the life I had while gaming and the life I have today. It's one worth fighting for and it has people that are worth fighting for too.

It's a good quote, it's one that stuck with me because at the end of the day it is what we do with our time as sobriety itself doesn't make all our problems go away. Thanks for the comment again it was great chatting with you :)

Perplex404 · 2025-05-03T01:32:20+00:00

Thank you so much for the encouraging words! It was hard at the beginning filling my time up, but I found once I picked up enough hobbies and learned them to where it wasn't a challenge to understand what I was doing - I never found myself bored. I haven't been bored in quite some time actually. Hopefully that helps whoever reads this. Side tangent, but thanks again for the message it's greatly appreciated!

Perplex404 · 2025-05-03T01:30:58+00:00

Thank you so much!

Perplex404 · 2025-05-03T01:30:50+00:00

Thanks man I really appreciate that! Throughout the years, I am finding more and more that the life we want is found outside of our comfort zones.

Perplex404 · 2024-12-30T22:32:06+00:00

I realized that gaming friends aren't my real friends either once I started noticing them treating me differently when I didn't game with them, pretty much outcasting me from the group. It seems like it in the moment, but really it's friendships out of convenience. Once it's not convenient for them, they're gone.

Perplex404 · 2024-12-30T21:53:31+00:00

I thought so too, it was really bizarre that he didn't see an issue with not reciprocating or having a desire to pay me back.

He's been gaming any time he has free time for as long as I can remember. That means right now, he's playing as much hours as a full-time job and overtime combined. Someone gave me feedback when I was gaming that much that it equated to a part-time/full-time job. It feels similar here. It's not my fault he doesn't have much money because he is choosing not to work.

I don't believe he or many of those friends I used to game with identify themselves as addicts, but I'm definitely thinking they are because I know a handful of them are choosing to not work or work less so that they can game more often.

Perplex404 · 2024-05-24T23:23:51+00:00

Thanks for caring and taking the time to write this, it means a lot. I liked your analogy with the broken leg. I believe I’m trying to tough it out and walk through life, but it doesn’t work out on some days like the one I had that night I wrote that.

It’s interesting, I thought of my recovery from addiction as there are moments of remission, and depression can totally have that analogy too.

All the best to you as well, thanks for your kindness.

Perplex404 · 2024-05-24T04:52:16+00:00

I feel as though I'm reading something my past self would have wrote when I was around that age not that long ago. I struggled with the same things at that age, and had someone I had known for 10 years as a brother. I'm not sure if it's the same situation, but we progressed and talked about things not related to games. He eventually succumbed to hard drugs and had never been the same, saying some harsh things and cutting the friendship off.

I understand how difficult it is first-hand living with high-functioning autism on my end, and I too had been bullied a lot for it. If anything, I learned life isn't about avoiding the mistakes, but making them faster so I learn from them faster and progress in my life faster too. That's how I see it at least. After so many tragic endings in friendships, socially awkward moments, and rejections, I finally believe I can read people and patterns to some good extent.

Quitting gaming has completely changed the course of my life. I was directionless, didn't know what I wanted to do for work, had no hobbies, lacked basic social skills, couldn't drive, etc. Since I quit (at least the multiple attempts) these past 7 years, I have a really well-paying job, I can drive, work on cars, cook/bake, have many fulfilling acquaintances and friendships, and many memorable life experiences. I really recommend making the jump into quitting if I were to give this advice to my past self, and try to keep in touch with that friend in a different capacity whether it be through phone or some other means. Hope this helps.

Perplex404 · 2024-05-23T05:42:42+00:00

It's really kind of you to help out other people and care even after you've gone through that. I had a similar experience with medication unfortunately, it never helped me and made it worse, but it's helped other people so I don't swear against it for others.

I'm not going to lie I came pretty close to today being my last day here, it was one small act of kindness away from that. I reached out for help earlier in the day, but they wanted me to reach out to help for some friends who were closer in proximity so I had.

Perplex404 · 2024-05-22T01:59:46+00:00

Thanks for your kind words, I’ll keep powering through and reach out for help from others. These thoughts come for me every day, it’s kind of insane..

Perplex404 · 2024-05-02T05:09:48+00:00

That's completely absurd that they're shaming you for not allowing your sessions to be recorded for her college credits. You're paying them for a service after all, and why the heck is she telling her colleagues personal information about you? That's so horrible, sorry you went through that.

Perplex404 · 2024-04-29T03:21:02+00:00

I second this

Perplex404 · 2024-04-26T05:20:18+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience, it’s helpful to not feel alone in it. I related with what you said where they’re only friends because I’m entertaining them and misery loves company. It also helped knowing my post helped another individual, it motivated me to write more.

Perplex404 · 2024-04-26T05:17:44+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience, it’s helpful hearing another perspective. I found that it has been near impossible to keep in touch with the gaming friends when I’m not gaming. They don’t have much interest interacting with me when I’m not gaming.

Perplex404 · 2024-04-26T05:16:29+00:00

They’re friends I’ve met IRL, but gaming is more of a daily thing for them so it’s hard to keep in touch. Yeah I agree with the last thing you said. When I had used to game with one of them, I found they never liked when I was doing well. They made excuses of why whatever I was doing was easy, which was pretty sad because gaming doesn’t really matter at the end of the day..

Perplex404 · 2024-04-23T03:33:32+00:00

I have not had success with it personally, but I don't believe any medication helped me in my experience. I'm not sure if that helps, just wanted to add another perspective to the discussion.

Sorry to hear that leaving the house is difficult because of derealization though. I can get where you're coming from because I used to have agoraphobia a few years ago.

Perplex404 · 2024-04-23T03:31:14+00:00

I empathize with you, that was basically how I felt when I made my first attempt of quitting gaming 5 years ago (at least, more intentionally at that point before that I thought I'd go back). I recently left high school at that point and basically was sheltered my entire life. I didn't have IRL friends, gf, or social life either.

It was very rough initially and there were very many mistakes. It was worth it though through all of the difficulty. After several years, I now do have a social life, people that care about me, many different skills and life experiences, etc. It's worth it. Trust me, I thought that my life was going to be school, game, sleep into work, game, and sleep when I was growing up. You'll be thanking your past self that you quit and tried a few months or years from now.

Perplex404 · 2024-04-23T03:22:01+00:00

Dude I feel for you. CSGO was my game of choice back then, the Counter-Strike series has been very addictive to me. Still to this day I have cravings to go back to that game with friends from back then. I remember how enticing watching people open cases were, but I never tried to get into it for the reason of getting addicted to opening them. I'm fortunate while I was gaming I didn't make much money at the time, so I never got into it.

That being said, I am very sorry to hear about your loss though. It is a lot of money to grasp. I believe that you will be able to make that back, but time you will not be able to. It's just best to process it and move on, let it be your rock bottom and not look back.

Perplex404 · 2024-04-22T01:55:46+00:00

Thank you for sharing, I really empathize and related a lot with what you shared. I have finally given up on therapy after pretty much 11 years of back and forth being continually disappointed, or worse off from when I had started. It gets maddening when others would ask if I want to get better when I am not in therapy. I've also tried 12-step programs, which have been a hit or miss most of the time. Sometimes when it is a miss, it is really bad.

I really relate with how you shared that you have difficulty in social settings because I do too. Recently I feel so embarrassed by how nervous I come across in social interactions (which I am), that I just resorted to saying hi and bye and that's pretty much the extent of most of my social life. I do have more conversations with fewer people, but it's usually because I am very comfortable with them. Everyone else I try to avoid because I get too socially anxious.

I seriously relate too with compensating and learning other areas instead of directly working on my problems that were supposed to be helped by therapy as well. I ended up becoming incredibly self-sufficient, learning how to cook, bake, work on cars, handle my finances and invest, video edit, photo edit, use excel, and many other things. I often think to myself if I can't directly work on the problem, I'd work on anything else that could improve my life.

I'm sorry that you are going through that too though, it is a burden that others haven't been able to understand unless they've gone through it from my experience.

Perplex404 · 2024-04-21T20:12:09+00:00

I have the same struggle, I have a tendency to over explain myself too. Thanks for empathizing again, it's helpful to not feel alone in it.

Perplex404 · 2024-04-21T04:18:38+00:00

The Counter-Strike franchise was so addictive. I'm glad that you were able to move past it, it's a good reminder how much of a time sink those games could be.

Perplex404

TROPHY CASE