How To Stop An Hard Addiction

[Shin]

One of the last addiction I have, is video games.
It takes me so much time, and I've tried for at least a 100 times to stop.
I play since I've 3, so this isn't just a minor addiction, all the last pieces of my identity are into it.

I want to stop because I have to clear a lot of room for other stuff that I need to do If I want to come closer to my goal.
I don't think it's stupid or brainless or whatever, it's just an entertainment, and there is nothing inherently wrong with it, just that It takes me too much time and that I know that I'll have to drop it one day anyway.

I struggle a lot with that, I know that it could take a long time, and that I I'll to put a lot of energy into it.
I already have some success with these kind of work, for example it's been 4 months that I didn't watch any porn or fantasize about women during masturbation (and only masturbate at the very max 3 times a month), so I know it can be done, but quitting porn and masturbation was easy compared to this.

What helped you the most ?
What habit or knowledge did you find useful ?
I'm already going to take a serious investigation on that right now, but I doubt I'll got all the juicy sources and advices that you could come up with.

For those who have the same kind of problem, these videos helped me a lot clearing all the other addictions I had.
If you don't have a goal, it could just be enlightenment, to be free, totally free.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2017 by Shin

[Erlend K]

Would it be easier to gradually cut down on your gaming time instead of going cold turkey?

You should avoid buying new games. Eventually as you start to get bored of the games you currently play it will be easier to quit. If you keep buying the newest cool game you will make quitting a lot more difficult. 

[habibi87]

I was a video game addict myself many years ago and was a hardcore gamer for 8 years of my life. 

You have to realize, that when an addiction is so deep rooted into your mind, you won't be able to control it just by will power. I will be very hard to not backsliding. 

Back when I quit, I realized that I have seen it all. And I get kind of bored, while I also was playing for hours. So I saw no further benefits for me. 

Be honest to yourself: For your way in self-actualization and enlightment you won't need video games.

If you want to be serious, quit your games, deinstall them, put them on ebay. If you have a gaming console sell it also. This was my way, and now my gaming phase is more than 10 years ago.

A milder way would be to give all your games/consoles to a friend, and he/she should keep it for 3 months. After this time, you won't see any reason to game anymore. 

If you have the urge to gaming, and you deceive yourself with downloading games or browser games etc. take apps, that block these programs and internet sites. 

Your mind will come up with excuses, and you will tell yourself, that it is only entertainment and not so bad for you. This is your addiction, treat it like this. I know it's pretty hard, because those digital dream worlds are very addictive and at the same time fascinating. 

Nowadays I sometimes watch video games on youtube and this is so far away from me. It's kind of interesting, how the graphic has developed, but I can't imagine to play hours in a virtual reality. You will also get to this point eventually.

But be careful. You have to find the root of your addiction. It is not video games, there are an underlying reason you're gaming. If you don't find this reason, you will replace this addiction with something else. 

[Max_V]

Might not be a very helpful question, but what game(s) do you play? 

Interested since I like playing myself too

[Ferdi Le]

When I quit videos games, I tried to avoid this "babystep" bullshit and used brut force. I was very addicted to an MMORPG, I played about 3 hours on average (it was before I started doing personal Development, but I overcame the addiction anyway because I needed time to focus on school). So what I did was basically just delete my character so all my work was gone, deleted the whole game from my laptop and actually bought a new laptop that was not good enough to install these games in the first place. 

It was not even that hard because I removed everything about that game completely from my life. After a couple of weeks just the thought of playing it seemed ridiculous.

You can basically apply this technique to most video game addictions. If you play on console, just sell it or sell the video games. Dont try to successively reduce the amount of time you spend doing it. This way it will always stay in your head and you always have a game you currently play (even if it is much less time)

And do not listen to your LOWER SELF saying shit like: "I actually authentically enjoy this, I just want to reduce a bit...". This is just UTTER bullshit. After you have deleted your stuff and spend the time doing higher consciousness activities, it wont even occur to you playing videos games. There are so many books to read, meditation techniques to explore, weights to lift, present moments to enjoy...

[Leo Gura]

1) Uninstalling games, deleting accounts, selling hardware, and blocking all video game blogs/review websites from your browser works very well.

2) Find some alternative means of relaxation/fun. You need some outlet.

3) If you do end up playing a game, as you play very mindfully observe how it doesn't really feel satisfying. It's always disappointing in some way. Try to really SEE that. That will help break your attachment.

Going cold turkey works pretty well for video games. Just don't expect never to backslide. You will. That's okay. Just keep going cold turkey, and each time you will break a bit more of the attachment until you finally get sick of this whole cycle.

[Joseph Maynor]

1.  You have to do life-purpose and enlightenment work to the point where you see that the addiction has got to go, there are no if-ands-or-buts about it.  

2.  Plan a date to pull-the-trigger to go cold-turkey that is like 2-weeks out.

3.  Treat quitting like a little project.  Say goodbye to your little friend.  He served you well, but he's getting in the way now and has to go.

4.  When the D-day comes, that's your last day playing video-games.

So, see, do it as a 2 week process.  Video-games were good to you, you don't want to just dump them like a turd.  Give your friend a proper farewell.  

When you abruptly quit, the ego likes to move the addiction to the shadow and you get the "dry-drunk" phenomenon.  

Video-games are cool, they're just a distraction to you now.   They're robbing you of your focus and attention which needs to be squarely on actualizing your compelling life purpose -- living a BIG, inspiring, rare, prolific-life.  You ain't got the time to waste!  

Our finite-time is dying every hour.  We gotta get serious with our limited time, energy, willpower, and focus.  Every ounce of misplaced energy is a cryin'-shame.  You owe it both to yourself and to humanity to accept the Hero's call, to follow the principle of right-action, and to welcome the emotional-labor required to actualize your compelling cause and life-purpose.  

Edited August 7, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Visitor]

@Shin Cold turkey, is the best quickest way. Don't worry, it won't kill you.

Get rid of everything to do with accessing a video game. Not by relocating the game so you can access it later, but in the rubbish bin just before the garbage truck comes to pick it up.

Gradual reduction methods don't work so well because each time you play the game (on a limited amount) the game becomes more meaningful and therefore harder to give up.

[Maxi]

You can try lots of different methods but what worked for my own addictions is to not tackle it directly, instead increase your consciousness in other areas of your life like meditation, healthy food, exercise, supplements (monatomic gold is a game-changer!), breaking old ego patterns by facing your fears etc. If you do this you will naturally stop wanting to spend much time playing games, but then you do, enjoy it fully and do it as mindfully as possible.

Also, very important: Don't judge yourself when you do play games. Only the ego takes life seriously. Life is not serious, not even a tiny bit.

Enjoy yourself

[Shin]

Going cold turkey for the XX times, god this is a messy process

The vision guys, the vision !

 

 

Edited August 27, 2017 by Shin

[Emerald]

A big first step is to sell or give away all your games and systems. Think about how difficult it would be for a heroine addict to quit, if they had heroine in their house readily available to them. It's too much to expect from your will-power muscles to refrain if relapsing is so convenient. You're automatically set up for failure. So, remove all the games and systems from your home to set yourself up for success.

[Falk]

On 6.8.2017 at 6:50 PM, Shin said:

One of the last addiction I have, is video games.
It takes me so much time, and I've tried for at least a 100 times to stop.
I play since I've 3, so this isn't just a minor addiction, all the last pieces of my identity are into it.

Good that you see the harm,

here is how i stopped my hardcore gaming addiction (spent almost 5000h within 3 years on LOL) yes it is possible 3years = 1000 days x 5h a day ..there you go

uninstall all games

withdraw from your gaming-community PEACEFULLY (dont you ...you guys are full of shit i am something better now! i life my life purpose while you are just loosers  ...DONT DO THAT... instead just go ...well i have some other plan whenever some of your "friends" wants to involve you in gaming again...

unplug the monitor and put it away, only plug it in when you wrote down on a paper what WORK!!! you need to do on the pc... then work it and then unplug the monitor again!

prepare for extreme withdrawel effects ... your future self will be so grateful to you!!

namasté mofos

[Shin]

38 minutes ago, Falk said:

Good that you see the harm,

here is how i stopped my hardcore gaming addiction (spent almost 5000h within 3 years on LOL) yes it is possible 3years = 1000 days x 5h a day ..there you go

uninstall all games

withdraw from your gaming-community PEACEFULLY (dont you ...you guys are full of shit i am something better now! i life my life purpose while you are just loosers  ...DONT DO THAT... instead just go ...well i have some other plan whenever some of your "friends" wants to involve you in gaming again...

unplug the monitor and put it away, only plug it in when you wrote down on a paper what WORK!!! you need to do on the pc... then work it and then unplug the monitor again!

prepare for extreme withdrawel effects ... your future self will be so grateful to you!!

namasté mofos

Men, I spent at least 3000 hours on moba alone, with Hearthstone it could be like 10 000.

That's not even counting offline games, imagine if I spent all that time meditating or self-inquiring, I would be fucking Jesus by now  

But I guess that was necessary, I would never knew that entertainment wasn't gonna do it if I didn't do it until I was sick of it, and probably never heard about spirituality (with the proper mindset) if the events occured just a little bit differently.

[Saarah]

@Shin For me it was definitely a life purpose need 

Life purpose and games parallel in that they offer:

A tangible and easy way to be creative without too much skill required so you're more likely to achieve flow states, and fulfil a vision with more ease too 

The ability to build on a skill and see yourself become better more quickly

Meeting goals and feeling successful with achievements that you can build on which gives a reward-like feeling

The meaning, it means a lot to see yourself as doing well in a game, or building something you can be proud of. You see a part of your identity fulfilled in showing off your talent for it.

Move all that over into your more productive real world passions until the games stop being as meaningful as what you're achieving in the real world

Then also ensure you're taking time to relax and keeping energised when you're tired or stressed. The game will provide an easy way to get those listed needs fulfilled with less effort when you're stressed and you'll turn to that instead of the real world passion 

 

[Skenderberg]

Go for a sunny holiday trip somewhere in Indonesia for 30-90 days.

When you come home you'll find that video games wasting your time since in Indonesia you've had so much dopamine from natural stuff, like watching colorful birds and fish LIVE. 

Then you want to start play games after 1 week, but this is your big chance to quit cold turkey.

Soon, you'll find games weird and you try to grasp how people spend hours playing.

Take ice cold showers, this builds up your mental strenght

Edited August 27, 2017 by Skenderberg

[Shin]

Well, I've come to the conclusion that I need to stop doing the shitty and highly exhausting jobs I was doing in the industries to gain a lot of money.

I was saving to not have to work for the first year of college, but I almost already have all the money needed anyway.

I think I'll go to mc donald and do something like 10 hours a month, I'll still have double the amount I needed anyway, and could focus on getting the habits I want and have lots more energy to resist the bad ones.

Sounds like a good plan !

 

[Moreira]

I deleted my 12 characters in my GW2 and uninstalled game. Then the urges to play  made me come back and I got 12 chars again.

The question is, the time I get when I leave my addiction I get bored like hell.

If I dont play, surf the web, and watch a movie I feel that I go to bed  unfulfilled.

Edited August 29, 2017 by Moreira