Grant - from Internet Addict to in Control of My Life

I grew up on the internet, and in a world, with an ever increasing number of addictive technologies, media, substances, and food, that nobody knew the consequences of yet. Before I can remember I was playing video games like World of Warcraft with my brother and dad. In such games it's easy to trade all my time in the real world for leveling up my character in the game. As time went on, this habit was also coupled with social media use. I would often watch people streaming games, anime, Netflix, or YouTube on my second monitor while playing games. I would run home from school, just to do this all day until bed.

This continued until college where it did not get any better. I even added another highly dopaminergic habit, now not having my mother who always made me homemade meals--I was living off of nachos, ramen, soda, and other processed addictive snacks. It was during my first year of college that I started seriously thinking about my future for the first time in my life. What did I want to achieve? What kind of life did I want to have? I realized what was most important to me. My family. And I wanted to create my own family too And to become someone who could care and provide for a family. But one thing was quite clear to me... I lacked the focus, discipline, or social skills to be that person right now, and it seemed my habits were getting in the way.

I decided to take advantage of a sort of detox built into the church I attended, by going on a "mission" for 2 years, dedicating myself to a completely different way of life. One of the main ways this helped me was my new environment made it very hard to engage in my old habits, and so it gave my brain time to reset, so I could learn to enjoy more simple and effortful tasks that would actually improve my life. Returning from this mission, I found it much easier to focus on studying and I began exercising for the first time in my life. Still, it didn't fix everything. I was back to my old environment, with my computer, and could easily go back to my old ways, and it was very tempting.

I knew there must be a way for me to live around these things without letting them control me. So I started studying psychology at school, and learning the science behind habits, behavior change, and motivation. I implemented what I learned into my life and was able to continue improving. One semester I took 23 credits at once, with a part-time job, while dating my now wife. These principles allowed me to begin building the life I truly wanted, and become the disciplined person I did not think was possible. I've been married now for a couple of years and we have a 1 year old son. I feel I have control over what I eat and how I spend my time.

I've applied these same principles towards helping others with various addictive and dopaminergic habits, and they've been able to transform their habits in a fraction of the time. If you're sick of where you are in life, and feel as though your habits may be playing a part in that, then I would love to chat with you and help to take control of them. Please click the button below to schedule a time we can meet. I'm rooting for you.