Gaming

📅 01 Feb 2021

This post is not to convince you to stop gaming. I am not a big fan of recommending things to people, be it movies, books, or lifestyle choices. I can only tell you what has worked for me and why I make the decisions I make.

I have had periods of my life where I’ve spent a lot of time gaming. The overwhelming majority of the periods have not been healthy for me overall. I’m not sure why that is.

I tend to have a pretty addictive personality, so for me, it’s very hard to do just a little bit of something. I go through periods in my life where I am just completely engrossed in something before I wake up and realize I need to reset.

So, going back to just over 2 months ago, I found myself completely engrossed in gaming. If I wasn’t actively playing, I was at least doing some passive activity while I was working on a school project or watching a movie. And just to put this in perspective, I am talking about > 4 hours per day with some days being much longer.

I have been through similar periods in my life. They often last a few months before I realize how much time I’m spending on gaming and I stop. I then work to spread my time among other things I enjoy.

Here’s the thing: I enjoy gaming. I enjoy spending 30 minutes to an hour mindlessly doing something to take my mind off of other things in life. Unfortunately, with gaming, I don’t stop there and before I know it I’ve been playing for 3-4 hours. I don’t enjoy that. I don’t enjoy realizing that I’ve forgotten to do so many other things that I know are healthier for me.

And I don’t mean that relaxation isn’t healthy or for that matter, that gaming is unhealthy. I don’t think it is. But what is unhealthy for me is spending the amount of time I have in the past and completely derailed any sort of health lifestyle I was trying to live. Gaming often comes with pizza, beer, macaroni and cheese, and ice cream.

That’s why, this time, I think I am done with gaming for good. The number of things I’ve been able to accomplish in the last few months is incredible and wouldn’t have been possible if I had spent that time gaming.

Right now, I am truly happy, I am living potentially the healthiest lifestyle I’ve ever lived, and I have done some cool things - like building this website!

In closing, this isn’t to convince anyone else to stop gaming. Especially now, gaming has become an integral part of how so many people are able to get through each day.

💬 Looking for comments?