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Last week, I had the opportunity to spend time with a group of young middle school / high school students at an Islamic school in Toronto and the topic of my discussion was how to deal with distractions / addictions and how we can overcome them.
One of the things I had shared with them was that it is only when a person removes the things which are causing Ghaflah (heedlessness) in their life and enter into a state of Dhikr (remembering Allah) that they actually start to live their life rather than waste it.
Removing those sources of distractions and actively creating space for Allah is an essential first step for an individual to see clearly again and move forward rather than watch life pass them by.
After my discussion, there was a young 14yr old brother who came forward and shared his own story about gaming addiction and how he overcame it. This young man shared that by the age of 12 years old, he had developed a serious video gaming addiction.
He would spend hours upon hours with his consoles with little to no realization about the type of impact this was having on his life. There was one day where he woke up and looked at the time. It was 9am and he started his usual routine of playing his games.
The next time he looked at the clock, it was already 10pm. His entire day, more than twelve hours straight, was spent in front of his video games.
He shared that when he realized how a complete day had passed him by, he recognized that he had a problem and told himself that he needed to do something about this.
He was only 12 years old at the time. I was so shaken up when I heard this because I don't know many 12 year old guys who can even acknowledge that they have a problem much less make a resolution to overcome it.
But this young man took the first step, acknowledged he had an issue, and decided to take a week off of his games to assess how he was before his video games and what kind of effect there would be on him after he took some time off.
He spent the next few weeks at various basketball camps and soccer clubs. During this time, he also tried to attend some halaqaat in the community and engage with the Qur'an on a more personal level.
He said that during this time off, he started to feel so much better about his own self. He, then, took the next step and sold all of his game consoles. He sold the sources of his addiction and gave that money back to his own family.
At the time that I met him, this young brother was 14 years old and said that he hasn't played video games since that moment when he recognized his problem and took the first step forward to overcome them and take control over his life again.
Despite how difficult it was, he made the intention and took the brave step forward to start living a life that was pleasing to Allah. I left that gathering so uplifted, personally inspired, and hopeful for the future.
It is very difficult to have the self awareness to recognize when you have a problem or an addiction. It's even more difficult to take the next step to make a change and tackle the problem head on.
I pray that Allah gives us all the ability to recognize the mistakes that lie within all of us like this young 14 yr old boy and grants us the strength to tackle our our own personal addictions head on and constantly guide us back towards His pleasure.
