hey all
im new to this site, as over the last day or two iv admitted to myself that im a video game addict
now my aim is to cut games out of my life but i dont know where to start
ill start off with telling my story so you guys can get a better understanding
as a kid i use to play video games but never was an addict because back then online gaming wasnt around
so i would play single player games like mario, mortal kombat etc where once the game is beat thats it, no addiction
when i was about halfway through secondary school i had a friend introduce me to online gaming, with games like runescape, CoD and saints row
this is where my gaming addiction started but tbh back then it was never really a problem for me so it wasnt a major addiction. I went onto playing tons of online games and they became a big part of my life
when i got into college i was introduces to the big daddy of video games, WoW, and this was where my addiction became bad, my hygiene went down hill, my college grades dropped and i stopped doing as much sports, but still back then i didnt see a problem with it
once i finished college, from no where i found myself with no free time on my hands to even play games as i started a new sport which took up alot of my time and always left me shattered on the night times, so i didnt feel the need to wanna play games
a year had past, to a day when i met a girl and found myself in a new relationship with her, we hit a really big rough patch in our relationship near the start which resulted in me suffering from mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression
all my sports and exercise had stopped and i was home bound for a while and i turned to games for help
this is where it got bad, i started playing online games again and found myself addicted once again
now i find myself in a cycle, i will find a new game, get addicted to it and start loosing out on sleep, making me feel crap which would result in my anxiety increasing, then i will start getting bored of the game, my anxiety would get better, until i found another game and so on
this is what made me realise that i have a gaming addiction, and to stop my anxiety i need to stop playin games
i just need a point in the right direction as i dont know where to start
do i quit games cold turkey and if so what do i do if im getting withdrawal symptoms
or do i start cutting down the hours that i play?
any advice would be much appreciated
cheers
Richy