Day 5: Nothing productive has happened.. yet

When I first made the decision to delete all my games and to consciously try to not be drawn back to them, I thought I'd see a fairly quick journey into 'normality' by stereotypical family standards.

I would be going shopping after work for the groceries, spending my days off cycling around the local countryside with my family and even helping with the washing up after dinner.

I've actually spent more time on my mobile phone in the past 5 days than I think I have in the past 5 months. Candy Crush Saga and The Simpsons Tapped Out are my methadone to my PC gaming heroin. I can take solace in that these games can only be played so much that they become boring. I hope.

My mind seems to be subconsciously pouring itself into these trivial yet familiar diversions in an effort to not have to deal directly with the great void that has been left in my life by removing my only remaining past-time. I don't miss any particular 'game', I'm not itching to beat people at Smite or build a character on another MMORPG, it's the habit of when there is nothing critical to be done (eat, drink, toilet), I would trundle off to the computer room and pretend to study.

My PC has never been so well-maintained, 9-year old word files have gone and I've almost completely categorized my 30gb+ of family photos. I would imagine that me tinkering away on this machine is what it's like for someone who is giving up smoking to inhale second-hand smoke - I'm only a couple of clicks away from having a triple-A game installed and fired up with 5 people to chat with online. So close, so tempting. Got a light?