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A year ago today, I wrote a journal entry making plans to end everything. It wasn’t the first such entry, either. I was deeply addicted to gaming, sinking lower and lower, year by year. I was a complete loser, life was challenging and depressing, and I couldn’t feel any joy.

Then, in one computer science lecture, the professor was talking about Linux, and mentioned, “Linux is an important OS for computer science. But I don’t think any of you should install it, because it will break your computer, unless you know what you’re doing.”

I had heard of Linux, but used to dismiss it as a niche OS. Curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to try it out anyway, my first distro being Ubuntu. I was amazed how well it ran compared to Windows. I was also learning new stuff and customizing things left and right.

Even more amazingly, I felt joy for the first time in a long time. Real joy.

However, I didn’t know what I was doing, and broke my computer just as the professor foretold. I had to reinstall Ubuntu many times. During one of these reinstall, I accidentally wiped the entire disk, including the Windows installation I was dual-booting to play my games.

The enjoyment I got from using and customizing Linux, combined with a laziness to install Windows, was exactly what I needed to eventually get rid of my gaming addiction. It had a hold over me for over a decade, and I was finally free. Linux also led the way to me rediscovering some of my older hobbies, as well as restoring my enjoyment of coding.

Now, one year from that journal entry, life is still incredibly difficult and overwhelming at times, but I have regained hope. And I find joy in my activities, not the least of which is simply using my computer running Linux. Linux saved my life and turned it around. I am eternally grateful.