Gaming, I Love You, But…

Everyone knows that Life is about shifting priorities that affect us as we age. While our basic character makeup remains essentially the same as we time travel into the future, our tastes change.

I used to be a Gamer.

For a long time I’ve had two major passions: Music and Creative Writing with Gaming a close Third and as long as the boundaries were maintained all was well.

Then something happened. *Cue Dramatic Dun Dun Dun Music*

I went through a phase where I played games more and wrote less. While you might say that as long as I was enjoying myself it’s all good unfortunately when you’re trying to accomplish something to advance yourself, that has a deleterious effect in the Long Term. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not admitting to any kind of addiction or anything, merely stating that I’ve noticed an imbalance and when that imbalance screws up the works, it’s time to make changes.

My Writing always comes first. ALWAYS. It’s not always fun and quite frankly it can be a drag at times, but it’s what and who I am and it has to be that way until I reach the desired level that I wish to achieve.

So what steps did I take to correct the situation?

Well, firstly I removed all the games off my smart phone. I was never one of those people who was obsessed with wearing out my thumbs on one of those contraptions because I came up during a time when phones were still used to make and receive phone calls. Yeah yeah, I get teased about being “Old School” but back then we just called it School. 😉

The Second Thing I did was to reacquaint myself with three essential concepts:

1. The Writing comes First.

2. The Writing improves me as a Person, both personally and professionally.

3. The Writing never stops.

Finally, I regained some perspective by remembering that while Gaming has only been a part of my life for a couple of decades, Writing has always been there. It’s the Seniority Thing and of course, Seniority MUST be respected especially when it’s a major part of the rank and file set of priorities that make up my life. No, I didn’t take any games off my laptop. I just don’t play them during Writing Time. Yes, I know that I could have applied the same concept to my smart phone but a computer without games on it seems unnatural to me…hehe.

Have there been any side effects of these changes?

Yes, glad you asked. I’ve found myself more tired during the day and I’m chalking that up to my body telling me to catch up on all those late night game fests but a judicious application of periodic naps and coffee works wonders. Plus, I’m finding that my focus is shifting back even stronger to creating, which seems to me to like the difference between cutting back on sweets and concentrating on more healthy food choices, which has happened as well.

Will I be giving up Gaming completely?

Nah, I don’t think one should ever give up things that bring them amusement. Of all the things that can bedevil a person in this lifetimes, playing a computer or video game doesn’t rank all that high.

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