LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" - Inspirational LDS Stories
Popular LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" gives members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints the opportunity to share their stories of inspiration and hope to other members throughout the world. Stories that members share on Latter-Day Lights are very entertaining, and cover a wide range of topics, from tragedy, loss, and overcoming difficult challenges, to miracles, humor, and uplifting conversion experiences! If you have an inspirational story that you'd like to share, hosts Scott Brandley and Alisha Coakley would love to hear from you! Visit LatterDayLights.com to share your story and be on the show.
LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" - Inspirational LDS Stories
From Video Game Addiction to Serving God: Grant Johnson's Story - Latter-Day Lights
In this episode, Grant Johnson, a psychology student from Southern Virginia University, opens up about his battle with video game addiction and how it affected the world around him, including his mood, motivation, relationships, and even his view of reality.
Fortunately, Grant was able to find ways to overcome his addiction, serve a mission, and get married.
He is now on a new mission to teach others the life lessons he's learned about mindfulness and self-mastery.
*** Please SHARE Grant's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***
To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/40Aw2L6I08I
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To VISIT Grant's website and get his free course on overcoming addictive habits, visit: https://balancedopamine.com/
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Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.
Hey everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.
Alisha Coakley:And I'm Alisha Coakley. Every member of the church has a story to share, one that can instill faith, invite growth and inspire others.
Scott Brandley:On today's episode we're going to hear how a battle to overcome an addiction to video games taught one college student that God can give us the tools to conquer the natural man. Welcome to Latter-day Lights. Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Latter-day Lights. We're so glad you're here with us today. We're really excited to introduce our special guest, Grant Johnson, G rant. How are you today?
Grant Johnson:I am doing great. How are you?
Alisha Coakley:really good, yeah. So I don't know about you guys, but texas we're. We're getting some warm weather and I'm actually happy about it because it means we get to go outside and play in the water and stuff like that, because we've had a really long winter. But, yeah, I'm enjoying warm weather. How about you? What's it like over there, you guys starting to warm up?
Grant Johnson:Yeah, it's been really warm today. Actually, I think it's the highest it's been. So, yeah, we're excited for that.
Alisha Coakley:Very cool and I bet you're excited. Now you're in college right now. Is that right, Grant? And so are you gonna? Are you gonna take off for?
Grant Johnson:the summer. So I'm graduating this may. So we'll be, yeah, you'll be moving.
Alisha Coakley:Uh, yeah, yeah nice, that's awesome, very cool. Well, why don't you I mean, aside from graduating why don't you tell us a little bit more about yourself? You know what do you graduate? What program are you going into? Are you married? Are you single? Do you need a date? I know a girl.
Grant Johnson:No, Tell us about who you are so I'm, I'm from North Carolina, but, yeah, I'm going to school, uh, at Southern Virginia University and, for those of you who don't know, it's kind of like like the BYU of the East Coast. Uh, it's not uh affiliated with the church, but it holds the same standards. So most of the uh students here are members of the church. Um, and, yeah, I'll be. I'll be graduating in psychology, um, in just a few weeks here and planning to move back to north carolina, um, and so, yeah, it's a little bit about me and I am married. I did meet my wife here in a psychology class actually, oh cool, so yeah, so you went to school to get a degree and a wife that works.
Alisha Coakley:That's right yeah, I love it. I love it. I actually am familiar with SVU. I grew up in Florida and that was like my top pick when I was, you know, looking at colleges. I didn't end up going there, but it looked like a beautiful campus and it, you know, I heard really good things about it. So I'm a little bit jealous that you got to go and I didn't, but proud of you for doing that.
Scott Brandley:Is your wife graduating too?
Grant Johnson:She is, yeah, yeah, we're both graduating and, yeah, both looking to be kind of work in the human services, kind of coaching field, help people in that area.
Alisha Coakley:So yeah, awesome, that'll be great, and we need it. This world definitely needs it. So kudos to you guys for going into something that's going to, you know, be good for your life, but also help other people with theirs. I think that's awesome, so, all right theirs I think that's awesome, so all right, well, grant. Uh, we are really interested in hearing a little bit more about your story. I particularly am interested in hearing about this because I've got a couple boys who are teens, who love video games. My husband has been a huge gamer yeah, forever I.
Alisha Coakley:I think our kids probably. You know what? What? It's my daughter too. I'm not going to lie, scott, it's your daughter too. Right, grace plays games yes, soon. So I'm super interested in hearing, like, how you found balance and the ability to you know to be better through through this. So let's go ahead and give you the floor, my friend, and let you tell us, like, where does your story begin?
Grant Johnson:Yeah, so you're totally right, it's it's not going away and it's probably it's going to get worse and better. Video games are not all bad, but they can definitely be addictive and they're only going to get more stimulating. I mean we're only going to get better technology in the future. Better technology in the future, um, things like vr and and just tech companies creating just more enticing games and apps and and so I think, yeah, it's really important for you know us to learn about it and parents to to know these things. Um, because you know, being uh 24, um, you know my parents and I don't think many people they they don't really know that the impact that uh technology can have on our mood, our motivation, our focus and just everything in our lives and um, and it's only now that we're beginning to understand more about these things and kind of the, the positives and the negatives and and so I mean you can understand a little bit why, like these things are so uh fun, why so many people engage in that, like boys and girls, um, but yeah, so I I grew up um playing video games.
Grant Johnson:Pretty much before I can even remember I was playing a really popular game uh at the time called world of warcraft I, it's still really popular, but that was kind of the game that I grew up playing, and so my brother and my dad we played it together and that was pretty much what I really cared about growing up was just playing games, and I would rather do that than than go to church. To be honest, I, I would stay up late playing games. Um, I dreaded having to get up early in the morning for seminary, um, and it kind of consumed my life. Uh and no, it can. It can be good in moderation, and I think it had a lot of positive effects on my life. I met some of my best friends through playing games. I learned a lot of different things. I mean games, they have a competitive nature to them. Some of them, um, but it also kind of, uh, kind of sapped my motivation. I realize now that I I was not very motivated to get a job in high school, um, or to date, like things like this. Like I was, I kind of stayed to myself in my room, played games online with my friends, and that was actually one of the main reasons I went to Southern Virginia University is because they were starting an e-sports program, so I wanted to play video games there, and yeah, so it was really fun.
Grant Johnson:And, uh, it wasn't until I got into college, though, that I started to wonder, like kind of well, I I didn't know what I was studying, so I was like, what am I doing with my life? Like I, you know, at some point I going to have to not live with my family and I'm going to have to get a job, and so I started to think more about these things, and I was getting more influenced by my roommates. Luckily, I had a positive influence at the school, and so I started to think about my future more, and I started paying attention more to my patriarchal blessing, and I read about the things that would take place in my, in my future, you know, if I was able to kind of overcome some of these habits and focus more on on the gospel, and that's kind of the first thing that I realized, uh, as like a key to overcoming addiction and habits is just having a vision for the future, um, something that can motivate you, and, and so my vision was. Vision was to have a family, be someone who was disciplined enough to provide for them, and that's really what made me decide to serve a mission. At the time I really didn't have much of a testimony of the gospel. It was really that I knew a mission would help me to discipline myself, or at least I hoped that it would. I knew that it had changed my older brother and I knew what other returned missionaries were like and I wanted to be more like them and so, yeah, having that clear vision really helped me to get started.
Grant Johnson:And now that I've been kind of thinking more about this, the story I really like to connect it with is just Lehi's family and how what really motivated them was having that vision of the promised land um, the heavenly father, promised to them and and also um gave lehi uh, what I call like an anti-vision, um, of jerusalem being destroyed, and so that can be really motivating too. You know, I thought about how my life could be could be worse if I kept down this path, like if I kept just giving into my desires to play games and just, you know, watch social media and shows all the time, like what my life would look like, and and so having like that vision and that anti-vision, uh yeah, really motivated me to to start exercising faith and serve a mission, and so In my online MTC. I started my mission about right when COVID-19 started. So I was doing MTC at home, training to be a missionary, and this was where I discovered kind of the second big thing that helps me to overcome my habits, the first one being vision and this.
Grant Johnson:Both of these things, like I just kind of stumbled upon and it was, and this, I feel like, is the biggest thing for anybody trying to change their habits or overcome addictions, and it's just figuring out a healthy replacement for those things. Um, so, when I started to study and prepare to be a missionary, I spent less time with my friends online and I was starting to spend more time with my family because I knew I was going to be leaving them soon. I started to study the scriptures. I started to learn more about how I could become just a good missionary and teach other people. I realized later that these things were basically fulfilling my values that I was getting from video games. Like I was connecting to other people through video games online. I was, you know, progressing through, you know, leveling up my character.
Grant Johnson:And you know you feel like you're contributing when you're playing a game, you know you're working as a team, or you know you're in this world, or maybe you're helping people, and so now I was kind of translating this into the real world, with spending time with people in person, and I was learning about different skills related to missionary work, um, and so that's, uh, basically what I.
Grant Johnson:What I learned later is that the we can we can fulfill our values with things like video games that give us a lot of pleasure but, can mess with our brain, or we can fulfill our values with things that take a little bit more effort and they're not as instantly gratifying, but they don't.
Grant Johnson:They don't mess with our brain, so they're long lasting and so they um right consistent, and and so that's uh I say that's the biggest thing, um, for parents, uh, and something I'm thinking about, uh, as my wife and I were actually having a son in September is thinking about how to give our child healthier placements for things like video games, and so, as parents, I think you can think about why your children engage in those things like maybe they are uh satisfying their like competitive drive and, in that case, like sports are a very common alternative um and I was recently reading uh a, a book book called about five factors driving the kind of lack of motivation in boys called Boys Adrift.
Grant Johnson:They basically had their kid just go into football because they saw that they were spending so much time playing games and the son he really didn't, was not happy at first, which I guess, like it's just something parents will have to endure, like if it's already started. Um, but later that kid he, he really came to love football. Uh, instead of playing, I believe he played uh madden, which is basically a football video game, um, and he came to just love the real thing and um, moving his body, and so I think that's just a great example of like that replacement.
Alisha Coakley:I really like what you're sorry, I, yeah, I really like what you're saying about how, like there was something that that the video games were fulfilling in you, like there was a need or a drive or something. And I actually I just did this like four day workshop thing or whatever. It's like a Tony Robbins thing. I love that, I love that guy, anyway. So I did this like whole thing, and, and part of the workshop that we learned about was how we have six human needs and like everything we do it basically like is linked to one of those human needs. Right, like we don't do anything just for the heck of it, we just don't. We have some type of need that needs to be fulfilled, and so they talked about the needs are certainty, significance, variety, connection, growth and contribution. And so you, you know, like some people do things because they like the certainty, like like they know exactly what to expect from beginning to end, right, and that's what they need. And maybe it's, uh, people who grew up in a home where, um, parents were always moving them around or they were, um, you know, maybe their parents weren't in a relation, like a committed relationship, and so there was people coming in and out or whatever else. So maybe those are the type of people who really really just want something that's like stable and structured and you know, something that they can depend on, to be there all the time. You know, like a video game, you click it, you turn it on, it's on Like you know what to expect, you know the characters, you know the mission, you know everything. So there's not like a big surprise. But some people on the flip side need variety, right? Some people maybe grew up in like a military family where everything is so structured and they're just like like me, like I'm. I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl. You know like I love spontaneity, I love not have I have to have a plan, otherwise, you know, things fall apart in my life. But I love having spontaneity, I love having uncertainty, I love just kind of winging things and seeing what's going to happen.
Alisha Coakley:And then, as far as significance goes, that's, of course, like you being a significant part, like you mattering, like someone needs you, and I can see how, with video games, it could be like maybe your teammates need you to cover this part of the mission or you know what. It is something like that. And then there's connection, and connection is like that, what you're talking about, like the community that you build, right, like talking to other gamers. I just, I actually was talking to my oldest son today about how he's got all these buddies and they're from all over the world and they play video games for so long and have done it for months and months and months that they've built a relationship and so they have these deep, meaningful conversations while they're blowing people up on video games. So it's almost like a brotherhood. Right, he feels like it's a place where he can safely share and so he's getting that sense of connection.
Alisha Coakley:But you're, right, at the expense of what? Connecting with people in real life, with your people who you're sharing a home, with the people that you're sharing a ward, with the people you're sharing school with, or whatever else. And then the more you withdraw, the less people rely on you. So then you don't feel significant to the people around you, right, and whether that's, um, what were the other two? Um, oh, growth and contribution, right, like, like, how do you grow?
Alisha Coakley:Okay, obviously, if you're leveling up in a video game, that's showing you that you grow, it's making you feel like you're growing, like you're being better, you're becoming stronger, you have more, more arsenal that you've built up or you've achieved this new level or whatever else. And then contribution right. So like, how are you contributing to the world? And even though it's a video game world, sometimes you know, like my kids, especially like my daughter, when she plays Minecraft or whatever she feels like because she's building all of these amazing things, she's literally contributing to the Minecraft world. So it's really like that was so keen for you to pick up on.
Alisha Coakley:I have to ask you mentioned the like you had some good influences these roommates and stuff and you were able to make these changes, but obviously you had to figure stuff out. So what did that look like? Did your roommates say anything to you or were they kind of more like quiet examples that you just started observing? And what was that process for you? How did you start figuring little things out? Did you go looking for them or did they kind of fall into your lap? Were they given to you? What did that whole process look like?
Grant Johnson:Yeah, I had one really instrumental roommate who kind of took me under his wing. He was part of the esports program and just kind of reached out to me and started hanging out with me and we actually moved in to the same dorm my first semester and he was just a really good influence on me and so a couple of things, yeah, factors there. Like number one he was planning to go on a mission at the end of that school year and so that was a big part of me thinking about serving. And also I was assigned a minister and companion there who was a returned missionary, and so I got to spend more time with him and he took me to minister, to the people we were assigned, and I was just really impressed with him and his character and he was engaged and it just motivated me to kind of just think about my future and I was like I, you know I want to be like this guy.
Alisha Coakley:So kind of like so both of them were like the next stages, right, like one preparing to go on his mission and one just getting off his mission. It was kind of like your next steps in your good, visionary future, not your anti-vision, right.
Grant Johnson:Yeah, definitely. So, yeah, that was my really studying my patriarchal blessing for the first time, I think, in my life, and just reading that and being like, yeah, I really do want these things. You know, I want a family, um. And then, um, that just kind of started everything from there. But yeah, so, yeah, what you were saying with values and those things that can be satisfied from video games. There's just a few things wrong with video games, right, like you were saying. Number one is it can take away from doing things in the real world, um, you know, even though you're satisfying those things in the game, it's like it's not improving your life, um. And then the second thing is it's just like a flood to your brain.
Grant Johnson:It's just so much fun, so much pleasure and dopamine, and our brains just weren't designed to handle that, and so it leads to you not enjoying other things as much eventually. If you engage in those things too much, then you just enjoy those things and uh, like I said earlier, like I wasn't motivated to do other things. Um, did you find?
Alisha Coakley:that like and and you'll know more than I do, obviously cause you're going through school with all this and stuff, but did you find that the more you played, the less school with all this and stuff?
Alisha Coakley:But did you find that the more you played, the less you enjoy like the, the less it like gave you those, those hits of enjoyment? Like you had to do something more and something more and something more, like you had to go bigger or have more games, or you know like, did you find that Cause I hear that that's what happens with dopamine, with, like, any type of addiction right, like your first hit is going to be the biggest, and so then you want another one, but the second time it's not quite as good, it's still good, but it's not quite as good as that first time. And you always kind of try to chase that first time. But there's no way to ever get that first one back by experiencing the thing that you already experienced. You have to go then to like the next experience. So it like it's like that, that scripture that talks about like being bound with flaxen cord, right, like it's just like a little bit at a time, a little bit of time. Is that kind of what you you saw happening with your gaming.
Grant Johnson:Yeah, I think so Definitely.
Grant Johnson:I noticed that as I was becoming more aware of it as I was becoming more aware of it, um, and I started to think about, like, how this was affecting me and I realized like, wow, I'm, like I'm actually controlled by this. Like it's just so difficult for me to sit down and study, do my homework, and I realized like I needed, I needed it, like I was, I had to play for like a certain number of time each day or I just wouldn't feel good. Um, and so it definitely does. That's very accurate how you describe like um, over time, it becomes more about just feeling all right and dealing with negative emotions, more than it does like having fun, just like any drug or substance that's addictive.
Alisha Coakley:That includes it's not just I'm not I don't want to put a big target on like video games, I hate them. Unless it's Tetris I love Tetris, I will play that all day long. Or like Candy Crush, I'll play those things Like I don't know. Anyway, but it does include things like our TikTok videos, our Facebooks, our Instagrams, our Snapchats, like all of that social media stuff. So I'm not picking on, I'm like I'm not picking on gamers at all, because it's all the same thing whether you're drinking, you're clubbing, you're even working. Working can be an addiction that separates you from your family and that takes you away from life and experiences and the ability to serve and to grow and things like that. So anything can be an addiction if it's done to the point of excess where you no longer can control not doing it right. So it does not have to be just video games. It's the same idea. Like your brain, heavenly Father designed us all the same way, so our brain works the same in regards to addiction, no matter what that addiction is right.
Scott Brandley:Sorry, scott, what were you going to say? I was going to say when I was a teenager, I was addicted to video games and I remember we were talking about that feeling. You, you get that euphoria of playing, but also like a feeling of emptiness, um, because you knew it wasn't real and you were wasting a lot of time and effort in this world that I don't know. You could just tell that it wasn't the same as living in the real world and having real connections, but you get in it so deep you don't know how to pull yourself back out a lot of the time yeah, what do you think the first step is?
Alisha Coakley:grant, like it. Like, say, for instance, you're aware that you have a problem and that you do want to overcome it, but you know what, what do you, what would you say, especially to like to like young men, you know the ones who are getting ready to go on missions or admission age, or whatever else like. What would you say to them? How could they start peeling off the the layers of addiction?
Grant Johnson:Yeah, I think kind of as we're discussing here, we're discussing what life could look like, what life looks like without addiction, what life looks like with an addiction, and so I would explain, try to explain to that young man my experience and how life is better when you act in accordance with your values, in a healthy way, and really what that is is it's the first principle of the gospel, it's faith, it's believing that life is better when you do what Heavenly Father wants you to do.
Grant Johnson:Do what Heavenly Father wants you to do, and so you know those values, like you know those values that you mentioned there I'm sure those all are present somewhere in the scriptures Like those are what Heavenly Father wants us to do, and do them in a healthy way. And so I think it starts with believing that life is just so much better when we do those things. And basically I would help them, or I would invite them to create a vision for their life of what that could look like, and I would explain that it would be hard at first, because you kind of go through this period that anyone goes through if you have an addiction, where it could take a few weeks to a month or more, where it's really difficult, but after that things get a lot better and you're not controlled by that anymore and you gain a lot of satisfaction from other activities. So I would kind of prepare them for that experience.
Alisha Coakley:Okay, so vision first and anti vision. What was your anti-vision? Like what? Like what? Did you kind of imagine your life would be like if you didn't stop?
Grant Johnson:Yeah, I think, basically I imagined I would live with my parents and just kind of leech off of them and I would basically not have a family and just kind of keep playing video games. And yeah, that was pretty much the extent of it, like basically not receiving those blessings from my patriarchal blessing.
Scott Brandley:So like not progressing in life.
Grant Johnson:Right, yeah.
Alisha Coakley:There's this old show called south park. I didn't really watch it, but my brother used to watch it all the time and there it was like this bad cartoon show or something and I remember there was a um, a picture like there was a episode or something. It's become a meme since then. Maybe I'll see if I can find it and Clarissa can add it to the, to the episode here so you guys can see it. But it was a picture of this guy who was gaming and he was um, he just had like Cheetos all over his shirt and like the headphones on, he's like slouching and he had like I don't remember how it all looked, but he just he. He looked like he didn't take care of himself, just kind of greasy and not healthy at all, and he's sitting there and he's playing his video games. And every time I saw my boys or my husband with the gaming headphones on, that was in my head all the time.
Alisha Coakley:That would be my anti-vision and I've actually used it in my own life. Like, oh, Alisha, if you keep eating cotton candy and popcorn every single night, like what, what am I going to look like? I'm going to look like that picture of the South Park character and so, uh it's. I really like that. You know I'm all about. I'm all about manifesting and like having a vision for the future, but I really like having an anti-vision too. I like the idea of being like dude, like we have to have something that kind of scares us enough or repel, like, repulses us enough that we can be like, yeah, no, this one's better, right, because nothing, nothing is good or bad on its own. It's only good or bad when compared to something else, right? So like you can envision this beautiful future, but you don't know if it's actually beautiful until you compare it to something else. So I really liked that you had that like. You had like both, like opposition and all things. We talk about that a lot on the show, don't we? Scott?
Scott Brandley:Yeah, I've never, heard of that concept, either of an anti-vision. That's interesting. So you kind of visualize what you want and also what you don't want or what the consequences of going on the path that you're currently on. I really liked that.
Alisha Coakley:Yeah, yeah. So so what was next year? You said it was replacing, like replacing with a new good habit, or right? Was that the second thing that you kind of did?
Grant Johnson:Right, yeah, because yeah you, if you try to just quit video games or any addiction, it's not really going to work unless you have something to replace it with, because, like we've talked about video games, they're fulfilling a lot of needs, usually for people, so you need to fulfill those in some other way, fulfill those in some other way, and so I I kind of stumbled upon those things, fortunately, as I was preparing for a mission that satisfied my needs with skill and progression and education, as well as spending time in person with my family. Um, so each person can, can ask themselves like and can do some introspection, figure out, like, what are my values and what really fills me up and um for me to feel content and um, whereas, you know, hey, if you pay attention to how you feel after social media or video games, like scrolling, you know you, you probably don't feel good afterwards, right? Um, you usually don't feel motivated, and so, um, things that really fulfill your values make you feel good afterwards.
Alisha Coakley:So, yeah, Did you have like a support team around you Like I know you mentioned your roommate and stuff like that. Did you let him know what you were doing and what you're working on so that other people could hold you accountable? Or did you kind of like work on it on your own for a while?
Grant Johnson:or yeah, so I I didn't really start, um, quitting until I started preparing to be a missionary, and so it was really that environment of being a missionary and that accountability that came from being around other missionaries that really helped me. I mean it was, I mean that's kind of like a really big advantage that I had is because, like, I just put myself into an environment giving my brain time to reset. It's like I gave myself no option. Like I couldn't be on social media, I couldn't play video games for two years, um, I left my you know, my gaming friends. I obviously couldn't interact with them really. So, um, and so that's definitely not everyone has the options.
Grant Johnson:Let's just go on a mission, but you can definitely create an environment, uh, and you can set up some accountability with you know, whoever you have around you to let them know about your goals. And that's definitely what I do now is I continue to share my goals with my wife and we talk about our goals regularly. She keeps me accountable because it never really stops right, like we each have habits that we're constantly working on, and so that's definitely really important. I was actually gonna talk about that next, like environment and accountability would be like just yeah, the biggest hack for for overcoming addictions and changing habits.
Alisha Coakley:So why don't you I don't know if I want it like go go into that? So how did you? I mean, obviously you were on mission, so that's a big change in your environment, right, and and you have rules that you need to follow and stuff like that. So that helps with your accountability. But, like I guess, tell us a little bit more about you. Know about that pathway.
Grant Johnson:You know about that pathway. Yeah Well, I think part of it is letting the people know, uh, that you have an accountability with about your goals and and so we would have times as, as missionaries set apart to share goals with one another each week and each transfer and every day, and that's a habit that I'm definitely really grateful that I started, because it instills in you a self-accountability too when you create goals each day and at the end of the day, it's also part of the missionary schedule to journal, and so you know, at the end of the day, writing about, like my efforts and if I was able to stick to my goals and so that's definitely really helpful for staying accountable.
Grant Johnson:And, yeah, I think it's. You know, you can kind of see it in the scriptures and even with the living apostles and prophets, like, for example, I think about President Holland and you know his son, who's a 70. And I'm like I don't really think it's a coincidence that his son is a 70. Like he, you know his dad instilled in him the values and instilled in him the principles of the gospel, and it's that environment that he created that helps him to progress. And it's the same in the Book of Mormon, with fathers and sons being prophets and carrying on the place. And it's, yeah, just a testament to me how important, like the people we surround ourselves, is to help us change our behavior.
Scott Brandley:Yeah, I agree. I think the people around us definitely can impact us in in positive or negative ways. I think part of that, that healthy replacement, is maybe changing the people that you interact with on a daily basis. Right, like you're saying you, you spent more time with your family and and we're around different and a different type of influence than when you were playing video games. I think, that actually has a big impact.
Alisha Coakley:How long was it from the time that you like started to wean yourself off before you went on your mission, like you know how many I don't know months or years or whatever was that?
Grant Johnson:It was. I'd say it was about three months before my mission.
Alisha Coakley:Not long ago.
Grant Johnson:Yeah, when I came home from school, and that's when I started spending more time with my family, as I was home, and uh started doing things with them more instead of playing games. Um, and then, uh, yeah, just the the mission was the biggest thing, but, um, yeah, Did you like when you were on the mission did you have?
Alisha Coakley:I don't know, I don't know if you'd call it withdrawals, but you know, like did you have? I don't know if you'd call it withdrawals, but did you have more hardship when you're missing of it and things like that? Or was it easier because you just knew you couldn't play? So nobody else is playing and you're just too busy?
Grant Johnson:Yeah, it was hard at times and I definitely missed it at times wanted to play, and I realized later that I kind of started to replace gaming with eating, unfortunately for a while, and I started having poor eating habits and I realized later like all these things are connected and affect the brain really similarly, and so that's something people have to be careful about, like you know, when you're, if you're changing habit, not to replace it with another bad habit. Yeah, and so that that kind of happened with me in the case of food and as a missionary and I would just I would I served in Mesa, Arizona and so I there were a lot of members of the church there- and we would get fed dinner every night and people would joke about how I would eat so much because I'm kind of a small guy.
Grant Johnson:But yeah, I think I kind of coped in that way. I think I kind of coped in that way. It was something I had to overcome more after my mission as I kept learning about more and more principles for behavior change. One of the big things that I learned was about mindfulness because my mission it helped me realize I wanted to study psychology and kind of the science behind these behavior change things and repentance. One of the big principles I learned was about mindfulness and which is basically for anybody that doesn't know it's.
Grant Johnson:It's really about being present and being aware of what's going on right now, being aware of your body and your senses, and and I think it's something that is really important, especially today, because you know, in the times of the scriptures like, or just even 50, 20, 100 years ago, so much easier because there weren't so many different distractions and and so you had time to just kind of be with yourself and to just think, whereas nowadays it's like as soon as somebody has a free moment, like a lot of people just pull out their phones and and scroll on social media and we never really give ourselves time to just process negative emotions. And, and that's really what mindfulness does is it helps you process those emotions, and, and that was something that I definitely needed was to just uh kind of process the boredom process, the stress that, uh, I would escape from by playing video games or eating or going on social media, and so, yeah, mindfulness it's like things you can schedule into your day. For me, I love to exercise. Uh, I personally don't, um, listen to music or anything while I exercise, and it just gives me time to just think and kind of uh focus on on my body, and at night I like to stretch and, of course, like scripture reading and pondering great ways to be mindful, and something else I learned from from this same class was basically how you can be mindful when temptations come, because you know you can schedule these things in today.
Grant Johnson:But it's also important to have a plan for when you know you feel tempted to, you know, do whatever instant gratification habit you have. And so, yeah, for when that happens I usually like to just get up and move, usually focus on my breathing. Sometimes I'll have like a phrase I'll say it might be like celestial from the past general conference, in the past general conference, like, uh, yeah, there's, but there's really good techniques that can help to, um, basically deal with those negative emotions instead of coping with self-destructive behaviors.
Alisha Coakley:Right, yeah, that's.
Alisha Coakley:It's interesting that you you talked about, um, just kind of like like changing your body, like changing something, like doing something right, and I think that a lot of times you're right it's when we're not mindful, when we like kind of zone out that all of a sudden, those and it doesn't even have to be an addiction, right, like sometimes it can just be. Maybe it is eating, maybe it's like when you're watching a show how many snacks you can end up eating when you're watching a show, versus if you're like actually like looking at a plate and like talking to someone during dinner time or something like that. You know, like I feel like you you eat a lot more when you're zoning out, or you would you maybe drink a lot more, smoke a lot more. Maybe you, um, you waste a lot more time right when we're just vegging out or watching videos. Next thing you know it's like four hours later we're like what the heck? What did we do with our time? So I like that you talked about just like getting up moving, doing something different with your body, so that you can pull yourself out of that like blah state. But it's also good I noticed a lot with and it's not a generational thing, it's just a. It's just a time that we live in.
Alisha Coakley:Now I think people don't know how to be bored. We're entertained all the time. Like commercials are entertaining. They never used to be Scott, he knows we used to have some boring, you know boring commercials. That was the time when we had to hurry up and get up and go get a snack, and you know what I mean Like we didn't want to sit and watch commercials. But now commercials are more entertaining because they're they're all like mini TikTok reels and we have a really hard time not not being able to be bored.
Alisha Coakley:Right and I don't know it doesn't have to be boring like just quiet, calm, still right. Like it's really really hard for us and we know from the scriptures it's in that stillness that we can hear the Holy ghost more often. Right, it's in the moments where we turn off all the extra noise and where we take a minute just to kind of like really check in with our heavenly father and check in with ourselves, that we get inspiration and that we're able to hear the spirit and that we're able to like really understand on a deeper level, like who we are, how we're designed, what we're supposed to be doing. And so I do think it's.
Alisha Coakley:It's so sneaky of Satan, right, like he's so sneaky. He's like you just want to have fun, you just want to be happy, you just don't want to be bored, don't be bored, don't be bored. But it's not really boredom, it's just quiet, calm. It's really searching for the lessons. I know, even in sacrament, my kids have a hard time If the speaker in sacrament isn't starting off with a joke or a funny story or something like that. My kids are like, their eyes glaze over and I'm like but listen to what's being said, because it's not about you being entertained, it's about you learning. And there's yeah, you can do both and I'm all for it, know. But also it's okay just to listen and just see what it is that heavenly father is trying to tell you through someone else's words, without all the extra fanfare and the fluff and the fun you know yeah, yeah, so you.
Scott Brandley:So you get back from your mission. And then, um, how did that? Did you have that temptation or that uh, desire to go play games again, or what? What happened at that point?
Grant Johnson:yeah, it was a lot better. Um, a lot had changed in me. I. I felt like like I really accomplished a lot of what I set out to do with serving a mission, and so I, yeah, I felt a lot more disciplined. I started to have more confidence in myself and started dating for the first time I had never gone on a date before my mission.
Alisha Coakley:You never went on a date before.
Grant Johnson:That gives me hope for my mission. You never went on a date before oh that gives me hope.
Grant Johnson:Yeah, me too. So that was, uh, an adventure, but, um, yeah, I felt I was able. Basically, before my mission, I took 15 credits and I had no part-time job. I was just spending my time playing games. But after I came back, because of what I was able to change and how my brain was able to change, I was able to take more credits, I was able to have a part-time job and just spend my time a lot more productively.
Grant Johnson:Um, so that was, yeah, that was really, really awesome and, uh, I felt like I could enjoy um, more things, just life more, and it's still but, like you said, uh, to answer your question, it it wasn't perfect and I still had temptations to play games when I knew I should be working on something else, and more so when I came back. Probably, social media was more tempting and YouTube and things like that. Um, and that's that's what a big motivation for me was to to learn about psychology and keep learning skills to live. Uh, it's live in this world, and you know the phrase like live in the world and of the world. And, yeah, I really think, uh, I think mindfulness is one of the biggest and it's just a beautiful lifelong skill that we can learn to do. That. I really liked what you were saying and I think that's why shower thoughts is a thing, right?
Grant Johnson:It's when our brain finally has a break from being entertained then we have like some, uh, some insightful thoughts or or I don't know if you've experienced like uh, going, like going to bed, and then your mind just starts like racing and stressing out and, um, thinking about the next day. But if we give ourselves time during the day to process those things, then we kind of deal with those things proactively.
Alisha Coakley:That is huh, that's like a light bulb moment for me. That was genius Grant, I didn't even think about that. Because that's yeah, that's like a light bulb moment for me. That was genius grant, I didn't even think about that. Because that's yeah, that's always my time when I'm like my brain doesn't shut off for at least an hour. I'm not even joking. It takes me at least an hour to fall asleep every time I go to bed. So and that's the reason why is because my brain's just, I have to do all this and I should have done that. And why didn't I do that? And tomorrow I'm gonna have to do this, this, and I should have done that. And why didn't I do that? And tomorrow I'm going to have to do this. Now I have to. Probably.
Alisha Coakley:You know it's like, oh, I mean, I'm probably have too much on my plate too. I probably should stop saying yes to everything. But that's really interesting. I never thought about that. So we could go to sleep. We could just actually just go to sleep and not not have to lay in bed for an hour thinking about everything. If we just give ourselves time to think about it during the day, like really think on it, that's really interesting. I'm going to. I'm going to try that.
Grant Johnson:So it's definitely hard, but go ahead.
Alisha Coakley:Yeah, do you? Do you play any video games now? Or is that one of those things you had to take out completely Like, do you know how to control it so you can enjoy it a little bit of the time still with, like, your dad and your brother, or or are you just like you know?
Grant Johnson:it's just a slippery slope and I'm going to stay away from it yeah, for me I feel like this is a personal thing, uh like I think genetics play a role in in this and how addictive personalities people have, and for me, I feel like total abstinence is a lot better when it comes to games and and food uh, certain foods, and it's like so, yeah, I don't, I don't play the, the old games that I used to play online anymore. I only play games occasionally, like party games with friends or on a vacation, like playing like super smash brothers with with other people, um, like in person, um, um. So, yeah, I don't, I don't play any like games online with friends.
Alisha Coakley:Gotcha, that's really neat and I do agree. I think. I think you're right, I think that's you know, that's why we have a lot of the um policies and stuff put into place in the church. Right Like I know some people are like, well, jesus drank wine, right, so why can't we drink wine? Well, it's because everybody's different and it's probably easier just to have a blanket statement of just don't, just don't go do those things. That could be a slippery slope, right Like I, you could totally get me on a video game and I, I'll play it if I have to, but, um, that's it. Like, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna miss it if I have to, but that's it, I'm not going to miss it. If I don't play it, it will not affect me at all, but my kids? Yeah, now you give me chocolate.
Grant Johnson:That's a whole other story.
Scott Brandley:Yeah, and I think, grant, you said earlier, the technology is just getting better, right, and the game companies want to get you addicted because that you know they can make more money that way. Right, right, um, and I remember even like games were addicting when I was younger, but not to the level they are now. But I even like, when my wife and I first got married, we basically swore off video games, um, and we didn't have, we didn't have a video game console until my kids were you know, my oldest kid was maybe 10, so there was probably, you know, I don't know, 12, 10 to 12 years there where we didn't even play games, just because we knew that if we did, our kids would probably get neglected. Yeah, but I can't even imagine, like now the games are just so much, so more intense, intense, and they just pull you in.
Alisha Coakley:Well, and even now, I mean, it's like I feel like our kids kind of are the kids that will never not know technology, right? Like our kids started being toddlers and having their own little tablets and having their own little granted whether they were educational games or not, it doesn't matter, because they were still games, right? Like our kids had those things when they were before they could even speak. They were on a device, right and so, and we didn't know all of the negative impacts back then, which totally stinks Like we used our kids as guinea pigs, apparently sorry children, but you know. But now we're seeing the effects and we're feeling the stress in our families and stuff like that. And I do think you're right, it's just going to continue to progress and we're going to have new addictions right, we're going to have new things that pop up because of technology and because of the progress that's being made. And even if it's not technology, I think that we're learning so much more now, too, right, we're getting so much more information that's coming forth from the earth. We, you know, like who knows, I'm still waiting to see what happens with our aliens, waiting to see what they bring us. I don't know. So, uh, I, I love, I love what you said, just kind of like recapping on, like, start with a vision and an anti-vision, make sure that you are replacing it with good things, right and um, and then just making sure that, like, like for you, you, you started learning about your body, your brain. You started learning about, like, what is actually happening to you, why you're feeling the way that you're feeling, being able to check in with your emotions. These are such good things and I think we can apply them forever to our life.
Alisha Coakley:I had a thought. I know there has to be opposition in all things. Right, that's just a given, but there's got to be. I don't think Heavenly Father designs things just to be bad right. I think he designs things that have the ability to be good or bad right, like take the internet, for example. Internet, great things are being done on it, horrible things are being done on it. Same thing with our brains. So, while we do have the ability to have all of this dopamine released and to get addicted to things that are not good for us, what do you and I'm sorry I'm putting any on the spot Maybe I put Scott on the spot too what do you guys think would be the good thing, like why did Heavenly Father design our brains and our bodies in this, in this way, where we are becoming addicts for different things? How? How do you think he designed it to be worked for our good, or do you?
Grant Johnson:Yeah, I've thought about that too.
Grant Johnson:I don't think it's a coincidence that you know, when the most people are on the earth at one time in human history, that we have this technology and this big problem of instant gratification and and I think you mentioned earlier how, like the, the devil's tricks and and and he talks about this in the book of Mormon with carnal security, and so, yeah, I don't think it's a coincidence.
Grant Johnson:I I think it is a coincidence. I I think it is that opposition of, like, instant gratification versus long-term meaning and happiness and and so, although I definitely suffered a lot and from video games and and feel like I partially felt like, oh, I, I was held back, like I lost those years of my life, but but now I realize, like I have such a passion for the opposite, now that I've experienced that and I know that that'll, that'll make up for if it hasn't already, for the, the time that I did lose, you know, playing video games, and I have an appreciation for the, the freedom and the ability to enjoy other things, and, yeah, I think it is something that we are meant to each overcome and um brings greater meaning, meaning to our lives when we do.
Scott Brandley:Yeah, I think self mastery plays a big part of it. I mean, we have to make we're we're confronted with things all the time it's not just games Right, we're confronted with a lot of different challenges and things throughout our life and it's how we react to them. But sometimes we have to go through them. Like you're saying, grant, sometimes you have to experience the bad to appreciate the good. And I don't think those were wasted years. They were learning years. You were learning lessons so that you can do better in the rest of it. You can take those lessons and apply them to the rest of your life. Rest of your life, you know, as long as we learn from, from the challenges and from those lessons and do better, then then it's, then it's just part of, becomes part of who we are and the and the, the adventures we have while we're here, right, so, yeah, wow yeah, I was.
Alisha Coakley:I was kind of thinking about it and I'm like I wonder if it's like, with all those dopamine hits and and with that ability to become addicted to something like what could we, what, if anything, could we be addicted to, that would always be a good thing to be addicted to. I think serving others for one right Loving others. I think there's so many people in this world that need to be loved, and some of them are the worst of the worst people. How do we love those people, right? So if we became addicted to those things that the Savior taught us to do, that could be great.
Alisha Coakley:Educating ourselves, that could be a really good addiction, so long as you always remember that there is a lot more to learn, that you are not as smart as Heavenly Father, right. That he still needs to teach you, you still need the Holy Ghost, and that you can always be humble, right? So I think that there's some really good things no-transcript, think we're doing something cool and good and whatever else. But also because there are some things that Heavenly Father wants us to just really have a passion for and I think maybe that, right, like there's like a difference, like there's an, like an addiction and a passion in there. The addiction is is something that controls you and the passion something that you control right. It's something that you like, get to go after and and that you're you're wanting to use for for good.
Scott Brandley:So anyway, his addiction turned into a passion right.
Alisha Coakley:It did yeah.
Scott Brandley:Psychology yeah, understand people and so you can help them. So yeah, good point, alicia. Well, grant, uh, any final thoughts?
Grant Johnson:my friends. Yeah, just going off of, off of that. Uh, it's definitely become my passion and I compiled all these principles into just a free resource that anybody can use. You can find it on balanced dopaminecom, and it's just one email each day for seven days.
Grant Johnson:And it just goes over all of the principles that I've learned from psychology and from being a missionary, for how to overcome any addiction and learn to train your brain to love healthy habits. And so, yeah, just in conclusion, I, I, I know that god, he's given us all the tools that we need to achieve that, that self-mastery, or at least progress, progress towards it as much as possible in this life. He's given us the scriptures, he's given us personal revelation, he's given us help in any moment that we need it, as we reach out in prayer and turn our mind to him.
Alisha Coakley:Oh, I love that. We'll be sure to share that. You said it's balanceddopaminecom. Yeah, we'll be sure to share that. You said it's balanceddopaminecom yeah, yeah, so we'll be sure to put that link in the description for anybody who wants access to it. I think that I'm totally going to go on there and see about that. I think that's awesome.
Alisha Coakley:I love that you're doing something so positive with the struggle that you were able to overcome. I love that you were able to learn it at such a young age. Like I know, you probably sometimes still feel like, oh, I wasted all that time, but you know, scott will tell you with how old he is. Now You're young, you have so much time left. I mean, you've you've lived like this much of your life and, and so it's amazing that that you were able to figure something out so young and make this change, um, and and to be able to be a force for good and to be a light to the world.
Alisha Coakley:I just think that it is so needed in this, in this day and age, and so thank you for, you know, for allowing Heavenly Father to use all of those tools and resources to level you up and to get you to like that next version of who you're meant to be and who Heavenly Father needs you to be to build the kingdom. So this has been so pleasurable. Thank you so much, grant, for coming on and sharing your story today with us. We really really appreciate it.
Grant Johnson:Thank you.
Scott Brandley:Yeah, well, and thank you all of our listeners that have tuned in to hear grant's story. We really appreciate you too, and hopefully you got some things out of it for for you or for your kids or for someone you know that is, you know, struggling with gaming addictions or other types of struggling with gaming addictions or other types of social media addictions and things like that. It is inspiring to see someone so young talking about this and hopefully helping other people to to be mindful of where they are in life and where they want to go.
Alisha Coakley:So, yeah, yeah, well, guys, we want to encourage you to be sure that you share Grant's story. Do your five-second missionary work, hit that share button, make sure you guys comment, let us know, like, what are the things that either you've overcome or that you'd like to overcome, or do you have any questions for Grant? I mean the kid, young you, the man here you you are. So he has done the work. He has spent years so far learning these things and and you know as much information as he's given us on the show already I'm sure that you have a lot more access to more information If you guys want to leave a comment, ask a question. You know, grant, I'm just going to encourage you to keep an eye on those comments and make sure that you answer any Cause.
Alisha Coakley:I think it would be a really, really good resource and and we just we would love to be able to share Grant's story and to be able to help other individuals to, you know, to get a little bit better and to have a little bit more control over themselves and their lives and the things that they're doing with their time. And, speaking of time, if anyone else would like to spend some time coming on and sharing their story. If you guys are listening right now, scott and I would love to hear more about an experience that you've had or something that helps you to build your testimony in some way. So be sure to reach out to us. You can either comment, you can email us at latterdaylights at gmailcom, or you can head over to latterdaylightscom. There's a form at the bottom of the page you guys can fill out. It was easy, right? Grant took two seconds just to reach out and offer to share your story.
Alisha Coakley:Not too painful, right, not too scary, but we would. We would definitely love to be able to share more light. So so, hit us up, reach out. I don't know, is that the it's, it's snatch being on the show? Is that right? I don't know if that's the right terminology is that a new term? I don't know. I've heard it. It floats around. I don't know what it means. I think it means cool. I could be wrong. Someone comment and tell me what it means. Oh gosh all right?
Scott Brandley:well, thanks again, grant, and thanks everyone for tuning in. We will talk to you next week with another story. Till then, take care, we'll see you then bye guys with another story. Until then, take care, we'll see you then. Bye, guys.
