Gaming addiction

In your own mind you can be whoever or whatever you want. This is one of the reasons why video gaming has become so popular. It's a way out. I love it too much. Many of us do!

I am not against gaming, but the addictive nature of it. For most of us it's a pastime and not a way of life. If it becomes a way of life and you're not advancing in any material or spiritual way, this can lead to depression because you've become addicted and no longer achieving what you really want.

You don’t have to be an athlete, create anything special with your hands, have bundles of social flair or assets to be noticed in public. As long as you're improving in some way, you're on the right track, so keep on pushing through the ups and downs to have a brighter future that's acceptable on your own terms and not on anyone else's.

If you have something profound to say and a single person connects to you and says, I feel you, this is an achievement. Gaming can help people connect, express themselves, feel good about themselves and get more involved. It can be a great social life!

However, gaming can also consume your life and give very little back in return.

My personal journey has been one of reluctant acceptance that I am unable to let go! Walk away or put the controller down. Swipe away the app. My life being consumed by someone else's vision. The marketing geniuses with their claws firmly in and not letting go.

If you're having a similar problem with gaming, it's possible to achieve a better quality of life by being honest and genuine with yourself. Try to be non-judgemental about your habits, but try to be self-confessional with the least amount of pride and ego. Be honest with yourself. Ask yourself some questions:

• Do I spend too much time gaming?

• Is it making me unhappy?

• Do I sometimes feel like life is slipping away?

• Do I play games even when I don't really want to?

• Do I grind at all. Or all the time?

• Do I repeat the same things over and over again?

• Do I feel angry with myself and frustrated for having not enough spare time?
  

If any of these questions ring a bell to you, it's possible you have an unwanted gaming addiction and would like to get some control back.

Start by confessing to yourself that you maybe have an over-indulgence issue. If you're unhappy about your current commitments, maybe you need to do something about the situation?

My personal experience of videogame addiction has been an emotional, dark and sometimes depressing one, best described as a cathartic journey to try and rid myself of the burden and try and help other people who are going through the same thing.

If gaming has become an unwanted habit or you're spending your free time doing things you don't really want to do, try to be honest with yourself, admit you have a weakness and start to overcome it, while continuing to improve, learn and make further improvements along the way.

Videogaming is great, let's face it. We feel extraordinary. But when it consumes your real life, takes hold and becomes an addiction, it leads to depression, anger and that gutted feeling that maybe there's something more than this?

Life is hard work if you want anything from it.

If too much gaming makes you feel pessimistic, cynical and you think the worst about other people, maybe it’s not the way you really feel at all? You're simply hooked to a resentful cycle. Life is amazing and people are incredible too, which is sometimes hard to fully grasp because you're so caught up in confusing self-immersion.

If you can be honest with yourself, take one step slowly forward and admit that you've not got it right, this is the road to getting out of a potentially dangerous rut. A person with more control in their life. A better person to know. A person closer to achieving their own goals at overcoming depression and addiction.

R. Alex