Bored out of my brains.

[Psyche_92]

Since i left videogaming behind me, i'm  getting much more bored throughout the day. This brought me back to it, but at the same time i didn't feel like i was enjoying it as much as i was before. Yesterday i've made the decision to also leave Twitch behind and move on. I've deleted my account, but today i'm already craving the mindless activity of watching people on Twitch, and i'm insanely bored at the moment. I can't believe how addicted i'm to this. I've upgraded my meditation habit to 2 hours a day instead of 1, but i'm still craving it. I don't know what to do anymore. 

[Saumaya]

The only suggestion I can give you is be conscious of your mortality..if you're truly conscious that you are going to die, you're not going to take any moment lightly, at the very least not being bored. As far as watching people on twitch, just be aware of what you're doing without any judgement. Be conscious about the fact that you're not going to live forever.

Edited February 17, 2018 by Saumaya

[Naviy]

Yeah, overcoming an addiction is painful. From my experience with videogames addiction - cravings become weaker only with time.

Because I'm constantly busy with real life stuff, I have not played for more than a year now, and I'm not having cravings to play games. In fact, this activity seems to tasteless, pointless and harming to me now, that I would feel very dirty if I tried to play a game "seriously" (I can play something on my phone once in 2-3 weeks for 30 minutes).  

However, I still have many dear memories with games. They were my friends and I was escaping real life violence in them. I love these memories and I am grateful to some of the games that I used to play.

Maybe you should not be so harsh on yourself? Try to leave the addiction step by step. For example, remove all the games, but keep watching Twitch from time to time. The less you will play, the less it will be interesting for you. 

Finding a substitute to addiction is very important too. Even not very high-conscious activity. Maybe try to read/listen some novels, fantasy and that kind of books. Some kind of other entertainment. Even movies. Learn chess. Walking more. Music. Some new hobby, learn business, guitar, carpentry, puzzles, bicycle, new books, new communities, offline board games. The purpose of finding another low-consciousness substitute is to drag your attention from video games. Because the more time you spend not playing, the less you will want to play. But you gotta survive this period of time somehow.   

At the first stages of overcoming addiction thinking something like: "Oh, I'm gonna delete all my accounts and stop even watching games and I'm gonna triple my meditation practice and I'm gonna FUCKING LOVE my meditations 100x more than games" is kind of too brutal. I believe, it's too difficult to accomplish.

[Cjaryo]

You need to develop your life past video games, as it's an addiction that takes up mass amounts of time. So go develop friendships and hobbies, cultivate your personality.

[Extreme Z7]

@Psyche_92 Don't be surprised when 1-2 hours of daily meditation does not magically eradicate your strongest addictions. The process will still take years and you have to push through a LOT of struggle and backsliding.

Deleting accounts barely helps either, you could still end up creating a new one months from now. You may have not yet "moved on". It's a sneaky tactic the mind comes up with in order to get an illusory feeling that you've actually accomplished something. But it's a matter of slowly weening yourself off it, not abruptly giving it up and "moving on". If you've found yourself successfully not visiting the site after a year or two, that's when you've truly made progress.

Just keep going and the cravings will slowly dissolve. You have to find other things to replace your bad habits, and apply focused mindfulness to the sensations you feel when you're craving and engaging in your addiction.

Also remind yourself that you're going to die someday. Do you really want to be spending more and more of your time fucking about with video games while the "icy hand cometh"? Probably not.

(Also note that I myself still struggle with video game addiction. Played games for most of my early life so I know what it's like. Most games are suffering but they're addictive suffering)

Edited February 17, 2018 by Extreme Z7

[NoSelfSelf]

Its not possible to be bored there are millions things to do to master to discover im not just talking about life purpose there are million fascinating things to do...i havent been bored since i was 10 y old why? There is so much it sucks(you cant do it in a lifetime)for example watching psychology of people asking queastions like how to cook how to be stronger how to be better at this,dance sing new language...even staring at the walls and sit with emotions is not boring im mybe to harsh

[Barbarian Number 8]

@Psyche_92  It is a drug.

You will get withdrawal.

 

Pick up more hours at work.

[vibrate]

my life exactly. I have overcome many addictions and I like that, but I also notice, as my life gets emptier of distractions, the sheer boredom in my life. There is not a lot of drama, there never was, but now that I also minimised the people with drama in my life there is very little to waste my time on. I'm also overcoming my addiction to be with a partner and that makes for a pretty lonely life right now.

Of course I can busy myself but the point of course IS to feel and cope with boredom. I can study, read or youtube all the time if I want but that hardly makes sense.

I can't comprehend how hard it must be for a person addicted to video games...I also have a steady Yoga- and meditation - practice but that does only kill so much time.

So I'm sorry but right now I don't have any other advice than sit with it and observe what this boredom does with you.

[GrowingUp]

Addictions are a symptom of not being okay with your human experience. You feel bored or lonely or anxiety or nervousness or whatever - and you want to distract yourself with something that gives pleasure and eases pain. There's nothing wrong with that. Our brains are set up to do exactly that - so you're right on course.

If you no longer want to distract, you need to get good at being okay with being a human being - both the good feelings AND the bad feelings. It's not easy. As C.G. Jung said "The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely."

So don't focus on your video games or anything else you're distracting with. Once you stop one "symptom" another symptom pops up. Instead, focus on being okay with the human experience of boredom, loneliness, anxiety, etc. If you can be okay with your downs as well as your ups, your addictions will quit you.

Additionally, I would suggest that you stop treading water and start swimming.

Many people are "nouns" ... stuck and static ... and wondering why they're bored with life. If I were a rock sitting in one place for eternity, I might become bored as well.

Instead, become a verb. Go live your life. What new thing do you want to learn, teach, create, explore? How do you want to grow? What would you like to master? Where would you like to travel? Who would you like to serve?

Start verbing. Start creating something fascinating and interesting with your life.

When you get comfortable with the bad feelings... uncertainty, insecurity, fear, failure, rejection, etc. ... all of a sudden, going out and creating more with your life becomes possible. No more do you have to stay home and play video games in the safety of your room. You get to throw open the door and explore the world - because you're okay with whatever feelings come up.

So the answer isn't to solve your addiction. It's to start accepting yourself ... positive and negative ... and then go and create a life from this space.