"Pokémon Go has kept me clean from drug abuse for over 2 years"

#PokemonGO: Heads up, I talk about some real stuff, though nothing upsetting. At least, I don't think so. ;xI'm 36 years old, and for 13 of those years I was a severe addict. I won't go too much into detail, 'cuz it's pretty dark and miserable. All I wanna say is: opioid addiction is dangerous and kills people. Getting OFF them was easy... staying off them? That required a lifestyle change.For 8 of those 13 years, I only lasted 3 days of "quitting" before relapsing ten times harder. By some miracle I survived the hallucinations, fever dreams and panic-filled anxiety attacks of withdrawals by watching e-sports (OW League was brand new).My wife had just started playing Pokémon Go and suggested to me, "maybe you could play this too. If you get out of this environment you use to get high in all the time, it'll help you." And it did. And has.I use to play Pokémon games when I was a little kid. I still remember dreaming about the first games on the 4 color(s of green!) Gameboy, the week before its Red/Blue release here in the USA. I'd look at the Nintendo Power poster on the wall, before and after school, carefully contemplating which starter I wanted (Bulbasaur).So I thought "sure, I'll play a Pokémon game again." And for the first year I was content to just collect things. I never battled. I didn't even know how. Making my drug-addled brain function normally again was difficult, but those childhood memories started coming back: "trees eat water... so water is bad on grass and grass is good against rock and ground because trees can break through cement." The old ways I used to memorize type advantages started coming back. Strange as it may sound to anybody who hasn't made the mistakes with drugs that I have made; it was relearning typing and movesets in Pokémon Go that helped me begin to regain control of my mind. I had to start with simple things. Simple things I could remember, from before I obliterated my brain with synthetic heroin prescribed by a doctor.My "drug" now, is this game.Every time my spine, hands, arms or legs start twitching out, I go for a walk. Which, after a decade of inactivity, was also very hard for me. But I needed to walk my Magikarp! My lovely 14/14/14. I live in a desert near the equator, where the fishies never roam. It took me over a year to walk my Magikarp to evolve it without rare candy, because I still never had done a single raid or fought in the GBL. Just collecting good Pokémon and evolving them brought me so much peace. Having small tasks and goals, and accomplishing them... I needed that. Merciful God Almighty, I needed that. Every ten seconds my mind raced through the old routine of "your back is spasming. Your Crohn's is flaring up. Take a pill or two." I literally, physically needed the constant daily distraction to keep a grip on myself. I live in SoCal. Getting my hands on more abusive substances is as easy as ordering a pizza here. The first year was the hardest, but every time the monkey-mind would say "take some pills!" I'd have to say "I agree let's hatch a 5km egg. Right now." I would punish the thought with brutality, which rewarded me with a few amazing Pokémon (shiny Aggron I love you no matter what they say). I've since lost almost all my body fat and have the slightest, vague hint of six-pack abs... with optimal lighting. ;p Nothing any body builder would care about. But for how I use to be? I hardly recognize myself as the same person I was for 1/3rd of my life. I still look a little fat anyway because that's just how it is, but in all my life even before the drugs, I've never been anything close to "fit."Now about 4 months ago I realized there's a gym 1km from my house. I'd spun it for two years, but viewed them as nothing other than "the big Pokéstops." I figured I'm so new to this game, everybody has the best everything. I'd just get crushed so why bother? I threw away revives and potions for two years. Never once looked at actual HP numbers. If the IVs were good it evolved, and if not it went to the candy machine.  But I thought "maybe I can at least dent this gym? I need to stop being so afraid of any kind of change. I got off drugs by not being afraid of change. I can tap a phone screen..." So I fought, won, took it over and thought "THIS IS THE BEST THING I'VE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE. I LOVE THIS."I walked over to the local "Towne Centre," (they really spell it like that) and crushed the other two gyms there, too. This began my daily ritual of taking both mine and my wife's phone there each morning. She worked nights, so I'd go spin stops and gyms for her in the AM hours before I crashed out around noon. I was and am Valor, but she was Mystic then, so no gym double guarding. That's cheating. ;xFor reference, I get up at 4AM every morning now... to spin "my gym" next to my house and take it over if need be. The exp from fighting is a nice bonus to the walk I already take. Now I'm all up ons the GBL as a rare candy fuel source and finally, after this long, I thought "time to make my first reddit account." I've been using this and one other sub as a source of info for me, my wife and now my 70 year old MOM even plays Pokémon Go with us. We've been power leveling her with raids and hooking her up with epic bosses to catch. I tell ya, I wish I had a Tyranitar when I was level 22. It's brought our whole family closer together and made us tighter-knit.This game has been 99.99% a completely positive experience. My only regret is I was too low level to get an Armored Mewtwo when he was out. Yet, regrets can be chains that hold you down, or motivating reminders for you to become better--to be persistent, and filled with determination. So I don't care that I never caught the coolest Pokémon in any game ever from the movie I saw three times on opening day and then eight more times the following month and went home pretending to have my own Mewtwo every day... okay, I do care. But only enough to want to get stronger and be better.Getting outside again and getting exercise has helped me fight off the addiction urges since February 14th, 2019 when I made my Pokémon Go account. Last time I used was Jan 29th, so one month from now will be 2.5 years. Whenever I look at my top 25 Pokémon, I can look back on every step I've taken to get candy and dust to power them up. It's like a reflection for me to see how I've grown. I'm too self-critical and self-flagellatory to just look at, and see my own self-worth. Yet when I look at these little digital things on my screen, I DO get a sense of "oh, wow. You've done a lot. Don't stop now. Don't give up. Stay clean. This is better." All I care about now is fighting in Pokémon Go. I want to be the best. I want to savagely bring ruin to Mystic and Instinct! Just playin'. I couldn't fight without the others teams, after all. But no, really... if it isn't red?, it's about to be when I see it. My obsessive thirst for fighting and power accumulation multiplied with my already-intense desires to catch absolutely all things. I needed a lifestyle change, and Pokémon Go was the ticket on the train.Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to Niantic for this game, and to this sub. I promise I'll never touch drugs again. Even if this game ceases to be one day. I'll never betray the value this game helped draw out of me. I know a lot of us watched the show as kids, and man... I know this is THE CORNIEST thing to end this with, but for me, the words in that silly 4Kids opening song couldn't be more true; "You teach me, and I'll teach you." Pokémon taught me how to be better.Thank you if you read my word barf to the end. Sorry if it reads jankily. I had to stop and take numerous breaks from crying, admitting all this. God bless you. Hope your day is rad. via /r/pokemongo https://ift.tt/3bbcVdW