I support what you’re doing here just because I know that experience is the best teacher. Have you read about the balance between dopamine and serotonin? I encourage you to look into that if you haven’t. Also I found this video on willpower enlightening.
This was perfect timing. Was going through a bit of struggle with a severe craving caused by being home alone, but decided to divert my focus to TS.
This video is very enlightening. I can’t take away the tv nor sit somewhere where I won’t see it constantly since the chairs at our dining table are uncomfortable AF. Slid the remote under a cabinet so that I will have to take time to take it back instead of turning on the tv mindlessly if I do get a severe enough craving
whoops, forgot to update yesterday
22:07 Sitting down on the coach wanting to watch TV, struggling to wait until 22:25 for the news
Updated the rules for clarity in the future, also edited the title since I’m attempting to reverse an early stage-addiction rather than using moderately.
updates:
After finishing Umbrella Academy, my limit will be 25 minutes of series each day for 2 weeks. I will then increase this number by 5 minutes every 2 weeks until I hit 2 hours per day.
Watching the news is allowed at all times and does not affect my amount of television allowed for that day.
This experiment is to figure out if it is possible to reverse an addiction in early stages of said addiction.
14:17 Severe craving caused by being home alone. Diverting attention to laptop as to not struggle as much with this craving
14:32 A video was shared with me concerning willpower. Simply taking away the thing you are craving is a great solution. I had already done this by deleting my Netflix profile. The tv I cannot remove.
14:38 I realised I do not have to remove the television as I can just put away the remote.
14:48 Since I don’t have a fault or any other means of locking away the remote, I slid it under a cabinet so that I have to struggle to grab it giving me plenty of time to change my mind if I do something stupid.
Another rule update.
Otherwise it will take multiple weeks before I can watch a single movie
No cravings or anything else to mention
16:58 Some cravings
No cravings today
19:00-22:00 Severe cravings for Netflix, but also gaming after feeling really annoyed with the way /I work
Good luck man. There’s a saying in AA if you can drink like other gentleman our hats are off to you, heaven knows we have tried. I’ve also heard it said in aa if you want to go do more research, then that’s what you’ll do. I hope it works out for you, for me I’m powerless over my addictions and I’ve admitted defeat, there’s no reasoning with my addiction.
Anyway, best of luck and this forum will be here if your experiment produces unwanted results. Take care. Also I agree with the sentiment of others that this post might not be helpful on this forum, although on the other hand it could also be extremely beneficial. In aa anonymity is vital to aa unity, this is because if a member breaches annonimity at the level of press it can affect the group as a whole. In AA our primary purpose is to stop drinking and to help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. Our primary purpose is not to try manage our unmanageable drinking.
MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM
Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.
We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.
We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals –usually brief—were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better.
We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones. Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will make alcoholics of our kind like other men. We have tried every imaginable remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery, followed always by a still worse relapse. Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it hasn’t done so yet.
Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self- deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore non-alcoholic.
If anyone who is showing inability to control his drinking can do the right-about-face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him. Heaven knows, we have tried hard enough and long enough to drink like other people!
Here are some of the methods we have tried: Drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy, drinking only natural wines, agreeing to resign if ever drunk on the job, taking a trip, not taking a trip, swearing off forever (with and without a solemn oath), taking more physical exercise, reading inspirational books, going to health farms and sanitariums, accepting voluntary commitment to asylums—we could increase the list ad infinitum
@DuncanNZ, I absolutely see your points. I look like a desperate addict to some and I understand why. But this is not only an attempt for myself, but also for science. Scientists now know that there are 6 phases of addiction.
Since my Netflix-addiction is in the 4th phase, there is a decent possibility that the addiction can be reversed, that’s what I’m trying to do.
As for my gaming addiction, I’d be pretty stupid if I’d think I can reverse that
All day: Looking forward to Umbrella Academy being released tomorrow. Not cravings, but excitement
No cravings today.
Watched the first episode of umbrella academy season 2