How Animal Crossing Taught Me to Take One Day at a Time

Do you know why I'm tired all the time? Because I can't seem to stop my mind from constantly spinning. If I'm working on task A, I'm already starting to queue up tasks B through G. And then those tasks are constantly being reshuffled because some emergency fire needs to be put out right now, right away!

If only my house was actually this clean all the time!

That's why when K told he was buying me Animal Crossing: New Leaf (ACNL), my first thought was "Don't bother." Unlike Rune Factory, which has an actual finale to the "story," there's no official end to this game. And if there's a type of genre I can't stand, it's the ones that are too open-ended (sorry, all you Minecraft lovers out there).

So the end of the story is... when I collect all the matching furniture?

At first I tackled the game the way I do life: trying to cram in as many tasks as possible in a 24-hour period (especially since the time of day in Animal Crossing matches real-life time). But there was always too much to do in one day: pull up weeds, catch new bugs or fish, talk to visitors and do their quests... Why am I playing a game about chores?!

Thank goodness, there's no actual baby to take care of... I can only handle one right now!

Instead, Animal Crossing taught me to relax and enjoy myself. There's no way I can do all the possible activities in one sitting (not without spending hours on the Nintendo 3DS). So why not just take one day at a time? Rather than speed through every project as quickly as possible so I can start on the next one, how about simply being present in whatever I'm doing?

Oddly enough, I find it relaxing to sit my character down so I can watch the fish swim by...

This applies to the real world too – being fully engaged and not dissociating around people. You hear of couples fiddling with their smartphones at restaurants. Well, I oftentimes find myself only half paying attention to my husband because I'm trying to multitask. Instead of typing on my computer during movie nights, maybe I should cuddle up to him on the sofa. Instead of knitting during car drives, maybe I should let go of the needles and put my hand on his leg like I used to when we were dating.

Yes, K and I actually made a date for our characters to hang out and watch the fireworks. I know, so corny. :P

Anyway, many people think video games are a waste of time, and I can totally see that point of view. I'm decorating a house in a virtual world that doesn't exist and has no lasting meaning in the real world. Or does it? Being overly stressed has always been a struggle of mine that God's been working on, and somehow I feel like He used ANCL to take me one step closer to being less of a Martha and more of a Mary. Sometimes you just need to slow down and smell the digital roses. :)

Question:
Do you have problems getting yourself to rest? What do you like to do to relax?