Playing with My Life

Video-gamer

Over the years video games have literally played their way into millions of lives.

As a past gamer myself, I know how easy it is to get caught in the game. It's a rush of adrenaline. You don't want to step away. It's late and you are sleepy, but you still want to keep playing. What can you do to keep playing and stay focused? For me, the answer was drugs, especially any stimulant drug. To come down and so I could sleep, I would turn to alcohol, sleeping pills, opiates or a benzo.

When you start playing better in the game, you begin making excuses and normalizing your behavior. Before you know it, you can't stop. You get consumed by the game and because you don't spend time around people, you don't have to worry about hiding it.

At this point, your life itself is like a video game—you want to keep using drugs and it feels like something else is controlling you. First, it was the game and then the drugs. They consume your life. The drugs make it seem like life is ok and everything is fine.

You secluded yourself for so long from everyone and everything you once loved and cared about. You gave it all up for instant gratification that gave way to a road of misery, pain and destruction. The introversion of playing a game to the exclusion of other parts of life, including people results in a smaller person. I can draw many similarities for myself between the isolation of videoing to the subsequent isolation of drug use. This isn't to say video gaming leads to addiction by any stretch, but for me there were similarities. So much so, that now I am sober, I do not choose any activities which lead to isolation or individuation from others. It's something I regularly monitor in myself to ensure I stay happy, positive and looking outward towards a future instead of inward towards myself.

Surround yourself with people that care about and love you. Don't use video games to avoid your life and those around you. It doesn't make things better but can make them much much worse.

AUTHOR

Daniel Humphreys

While growing up in a country town in Mississippi, Daniel fell into drug addiction. He turned his life around and not only has become a better father to his young son, he now helps others who have the goal of becoming sober.

NARCONON NEW LIFE RETREAT

DRUG EDUCATION AND REHABILITATION