Hi all,
so I'm about to sell all of my old gaming stuff in an act of decluttering. I essentially never game anymore at the age of 29, though about 12years ago I was flat out attempting to go professional at it. Unfortunately, I was a bit too early for it to take off as it has, though I'm not sure I actually regret that.
Anyway I decided to keep my xbox360 so myself and my girlfriend could play some Lego games if we felt in the mood and as we were both off for the week, we had a few goes for an hour here or there. The problem I noticed however was that I was craving to play it during the day, instead of get on with my most important tasks. Has anyone experienced this?
I'll call out now that I don't think video games are bad, I've many friends who control their gaming well. However, for me, I really struggle to control it, even when I don't game, I don't like having distracting thoughts that I should go play. I see it somewhat similar to junk food, if there's junk food in the house, I will eat it. If I have a console in the house, I will play it!
It's on the above basis that I'm just going to sell everything off but one thing makes me hold back. What do I replace gaming with? There have been a few times in my life when I've needed it, i.e. very busy patch with work and it causes a very busy mind. With video games, I could sit down for a few hours and completely distract myself. I think this was beneficial for my brain and stress levels, I wonder what people use instead of video games in this sort of scenario? I also used video games really well when studying for university exams, around two hours study, 20minute break to clear my head and then back to the books.
So what do people use instead of video games in the kind of scenario I describe? I already physically train using bodyweight exercises and do some sprints but I schedule these in the morning so they actually get done and life doesn't get in the way!