Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - Difficulty in Achieving Balance in Life

WayToTwilight · 12-18-2006, 05:37 AM

Not sure if this is exactly the right section to put this thread in. No problems if it gets moved. This is kind of a long post, just to let you know.

I am in college, it's now Winter Break and I get a couple weeks off. I promised myself I wouldn't waste this time and I'd get around to achieving some goals I had made for myself, most of which are PD related. But I found in my first week off, I couldn't control my gaming urges and played video games for at least 75% of the time during the first week. Once I start getting into a game, it becomes like crack to me. Therefore, I've decided to ban myself from playing games for the entire winter break (and the subsequent academic qtr) and focus purely on my goals.

But as I've done so I realized that my gaming instinct is a lot stronger than I thought... and with no games to play... I feel empty. But at the same time I keep telling myself I need to sacrifice something in order to achieve my goals. I've also started avoiding a lot of my friends because they are all rather negative/cynical people (who are also gaming addicts) that I'd like to spend time away from. Since I live in Nor-Cal (I go to college in So-cal) I don't have many other friends to hang with if I avoid most of my friends here.

It feels like there's a void... I'm not exactly depressed, but at the same time I don't feel a lot of fun or happiness in my life... I'm just kind of an empty shell. I feel like all I am capable of is either working on improving myself or recreation, not a balance of both. I know I'm making PD sound like a bunch of work that I don't want to do... but it is my goal, I am glad I am pursuing them. Essentially I am having trouble finding a new activity that will fill that void but won't end up being another addiction, something that can be a good balance but won't end up tipping my focus in one direction. Any suggestions as to what I can do?

12-18-2006, 05:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
WayToTwilight Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 60	Difficulty in Achieving Balance in Life - (School) Work and Play Not sure if this is exactly the right section to put this thread in. No problems if it gets moved. This is kind of a long post, just to let you know. I am in college, it's now Winter Break and I get a couple weeks off. I promised myself I wouldn't waste this time and I'd get around to achieving some goals I had made for myself, most of which are PD related. But I found in my first week off, I couldn't control my gaming urges and played video games for at least 75% of the time during the first week. Once I start getting into a game, it becomes like crack to me. Therefore, I've decided to ban myself from playing games for the entire winter break (and the subsequent academic qtr) and focus purely on my goals. But as I've done so I realized that my gaming instinct is a lot stronger than I thought... and with no games to play... I feel empty. But at the same time I keep telling myself I need to sacrifice something in order to achieve my goals. I've also started avoiding a lot of my friends because they are all rather negative/cynical people (who are also gaming addicts) that I'd like to spend time away from. Since I live in Nor-Cal (I go to college in So-cal) I don't have many other friends to hang with if I avoid most of my friends here. It feels like there's a void... I'm not exactly depressed, but at the same time I don't feel a lot of fun or happiness in my life... I'm just kind of an empty shell. I feel like all I am capable of is either working on improving myself or recreation, not a balance of both. I know I'm making PD sound like a bunch of work that I don't want to do... but it is my goal, I am glad I am pursuing them. Essentially I am having trouble finding a new activity that will fill that void but won't end up being another addiction, something that can be a good balance but won't end up tipping my focus in one direction. Any suggestions as to what I can do?