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Sober Recovery and Gaming
thebeav814
Northwest PennsylaniaRegistered User regular
Northwest PennsylaniaRegistered User regular
Hi guys and gals. I'm a huge gamer and a recovering alcoholic. Just wanted some thoughts and shared experience on the subject of gaming and recovery, or perhaps gaming as a source of recovery!
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That's a start.
btw thanx for the posts guys! no quitting drinking games out there but damn that'd be rad! keep up the discussion! you're all awesome!
I can see why a counselor may want to caution one thing as a substitute for another though, both have potentially health/relationship destroying potential. Just one significantly more pronounced than the other.
Balance in all that you do! Seek it.
yeah, that's not so helpful. (No offense and I agree with you in part I guess. Help from others is great, but it's more about yourself.)
here's a big question though, thebeav: do you or did you associate gaming with drinking? Because if yes, it could be a trigger and you may want to watch that. For me it is, so I try to not spend too much time gaming anymore. It often makes me want to drink/smoke/consume various substances, since that was what I used to do while gaming. Still love to game, and it just depends what sort of mood I'm in from day to day honestly.
If not, still try and balance your gaming time, as has been said. For me, trying really hard to expand your interests and activities is important, and things involving physical activities are by far more helpful. (and lets be honest, gaming is kinda the exact opposite)
it really is all about balance, and it can be hard. Good luck
i mean it doesn't really trigger me because i was a gamer before i was an addict/alcoholic, so naturally when drinking and drugs manifested themselves into my life, i drank and used while gaming as well. I understand what your saying and i have picked up physical exercise and several new hobbies. Balance is really what it's about.... as far as consuming myself with another person lol.... well that's just unhealthy no matter what situation your in and no matter what behaviors your trying to steer clear of, period.
I guess I should have made the point of being alone and rotting away indoors. Balance is key. I'd suggest maybe taking up a CCG or PnPRPG and joining a group at a local gaming store.
Like, say, looking at porn.
As a compulsive gambler I'm just putting it out there.
No clue why you would say that, a gaming addiction doesn't even have to be expensive. Playing WoW all day every day is pretty much the cheapest hobby you can have.
Probably not the best way of quitting...but if I didn't have video games I would have been around my friends (all of whom smoked cigarettes) or bored to tears alone. It got me over the hump, and helped kill time in the miserable week or so where all I wanted was a motherfucking cigarette dammit.
Whatever works to get you through the miserable transition, do it. Once you are through that start worrying about switching to healthier activity like exercise or woodworking or not chronically masturbating until you fall asleep in your lonely tears. You know, whatever your goals are.
Trying to change too many things in your life at once is a recipe for failure. Once you knock down a big one like beating an addiction, the other ones seem quite a bit easier.
Gambling addiction is hella expensive. that's why gaming addiction is a step below it because yeah, you can spend all day playing F2P games like TF2. They both function in similar ways though bio chemically.
Go for it, sober rocks.
at least playing video games doesn't destroy your liver.
Also :ar!
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
I could see using gaming to fight alcoholism in a similar way. Gaming is not a 'positive' but it is also not a negative and it does require your concentration. So, if you take up activities and seek support to help manage your alcoholism outside of the home then gaming will take the place of sitting around being bored at home and thinking about drinking (and then drinking because you are bored)
hahaha as far ccg's go.... thats out man! MTG became my absolute life consuming addiction the last time i tried to get clean. I found myself completely addicted to that"new card smell" and virtually every dollar i had went to cards. Drafting became my new drug. I have since sold my collection and just play in fnm's and such playing borrowed decks. Besides that im just way outta the metta. I mean last time was serious about MTG was Alara block i think. lmao
You know, it's sounding like you have an personality that lends itself to become addicted to things very easily and you should look into some therapy pretty quickly. Are you involved with any addiction groups?
Video games are for stress release, entertainment, and artistic expression. Video games are not drugs, though they can be addictive if someone already in a bad situation and vulnerable to addiction comes around. It's a fine line, but it shouldn't be a reason to classify something that has so much potential for good as close to drugs in ruining lives or the like.
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You know, it's sounding like you have an personality that lends itself to become addicted to things very easily and you should look into some therapy pretty quickly. Are you involved with any addiction groups?[/quote]
Yes, I am very active in 12 step recovery and Drug and Alcohol therapy. The reason i started this post again was to get opinions fromgamers that may be struggling through the same kinda things.
"I think you've pulled one too many."
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