Alec Whittington

Well it has been a little over 1 week since I quit World of Warcraft and I feel great. I have been playing since April 2006 and have been a part of End Game guilds since hitting the level cap. You don't realize just how addictive that game is until you find yourself scheduling your life around it.

But that is not the reason I quit ironically. It actually comes as part of the life changes I have made lately. As some of you know from reading my other blog posts since September, I have made some career moves. Well I finally hit a point in my career where I am comfortable with everything. I am no longer working the 12+ hour days (unless needed of course), I make a comfortable living, and I want to enjoy life more. It all started when I realized I had lost weight (from 309 to 279) and I was not trying to. I started to analyze why this was happening and I realized it was because of my environment. I was less stressed, eating better, and in general a much happier person. This motivated me to start enjoying my life. I did not want to end up like my mom, being 55 year old and just starting to enjoy life.

So I started making changes. First thing I did was wrap up all work for clients. Next I finalized some dealings with a business partner. Then I left the DotNetNuke project. And finally I stopped playing World of Warcraft. When I really thought about it, I played because I was trying to escape the pressures of my life. Some of these were tougher than the other. Leaving the DNN project was very tough for me to do, but I was no longer willing to put the time in that was required. It has been a great 3 years with the project, but it was time to move on. Thats all I have to say about that.

So it has been 4 months since I started these changes and I am now at 265. My attitude is better, I feel better and more importantly - I am living life as I want to. I have taken up a few new hobbies to keep me occupied, mainly brewing beer and racing RC cars. I have brewed in the past, but I have become very serious about it lately. Right now I have a nice Irish Dry Stout in its final fermentation. I also used to race onroad RC cars, but am now getting into offroad electric. A few friends of mine recently competed in the Cactus Classis here in AZ, prompting my return to the sport.

In the field we are in it is very easy to bury ourselves in work and to not take that vacation. I have found myself doing it many times too. It is important to remember that we often times do this to ourselves. Take a look around at yourself and your life. Are you doing something to hide from your life?