1: A Journey Begins

How I turned a crazy idea to stop playing video games into a journey that would change my life.

Every journey of 1000 miles begins with a first step. For me, that journey was to eliminate video games from my life. I have tried and failed many times to find other interests and hobbies but nothing I did was ever enough to pull me away from the lure of video games. After some deep personal reflection, and frank conversations with my family, I realised that there are better things to do than play video games. So I started the 50 Challenges to support my goal to rid my life of video games for good. But every journey of 1000 miles begins with a first step. For me, that step was to hang up a whiteboard.

I am not someone who you would describe as handy. In fact, the handiest thing I ever made was the pirate ship lego set I assembled when I was six.

Task #1: Track my progress.

For the 50 Challenge I needed something, a showpiece, that would track my progress and hold me accountable. So I chose a whiteboard to hang up in my room. Waking up every day to see my progress is vital to keep me motivated throughout this journey.

Task #2: Find a whiteboard.

Go to Office Works and purchased the cheapest one.

Task #3: Get help.

Because of my complete and utter ineptitude when it comes to all things DIY I enlisted my Mum's help to get the whiteboard from the box to my wall.

Task #4: Hang up the damn thing!

The instructions in the box were pretty straight forward, but they required me to drill a hole in my wall which Mum wasn't comfortable with. Luckily, I had a framed Pulp Fiction poster which we could strip the wiring from and attach to the whiteboard.

Voila! With minimal fuss, the whiteboard was hung and I was finally ready for the 50 Challenges. It was satisfying to be able to cross the first challenge off my list, and for what it's worth, I enjoyed getting my hands dirty; drilling holes and banging nails. Next time I'll try not to break the drill bit...

... sorry Mum.