My Social Media-less Life

Based on the above pictures, you would think I’d have a lot to talk about. I really feel like I don’t though. And that’s why nobody has heard from me in a while. So far, everything I’ve been doing in my normal life is just that: normal.

I colored my hair again. Hung out with my nephews and niece at “Grandma’s” house. Helped my friend Rachel sell more books.

To me, none of these things are out of the ordinary, or noteworthy. At least not enough for me to sit down and write about them. And believe me, I’ve sat down to write multiple times over the past couple weeks. I actually just had a post in my drafts that I deleted because I don’t even remember where I was trying to go story-wise with that post.

This isn’t to say that I need something to happen in my life to write about it. But it certainly helps get the creative juices flowing.

Here’s something a little more interesting that I’ve been thinking about lately… thoughts are always fun to write about, provided I can remember what they are…

For a tiny bit of backstory, my mom has an older dog. She’s… an indeterminate age, but definitely old, because my brother and sister-in-law got her when she was… 4? And that was in 2013. But even how old she was when they got her is anybody’s guess at this point.

This older dog, her name is Foxxy. She gets into some of the weirdest situations and there is no discernible explanation as to how or why she got there. Nine times out of ten, she will literally appear in a room and nobody saw her come in, which in gaming vernacular, that would be called “spawning in.” Which we’ve said she does. So I’ve taken to calling her an NPC (non-player character in video games, for the unlearned among us). Since my mom’s husband is a gamer, they both thought that was the perfect description of Foxxy. Something to the effect of the following conversation has happened recently:

“What in the world? Where did Foxxy come from?”
“Oh, she just spawned in, it’s fine. She’s an NPC. No one knows how she got here. She’ll probably never die at this point.”
Foxxy: *stands in the middle of the room, looking like an NPC would if they were a dog*

Because I’ve been thinking of this over the past few weeks, and I’ve been at a lot more geek/nerd events than I ever thought I would ever attend, I’ve taken to thinking of my own life as something of a video game. Not in the way that might concern people, as if life doesn’t matter. More in the way that might help me remember things a little better. Or even in ways that make the days more interesting.

Do you remember the Sims game? Where you had people and a community that you somehow had to keep alive? If you don’t, it’s fine. You probably are a more productive person right now because you didn’t waste literal weeks of your life trying your hardest to keep computer simulated people who have no bearing on eternity from throwing themselves off a building because they were laughing too hard.
Or starting themselves on fire because they didn’t read a book on how to cook and now there’s just a sad partner and a weird clown(?) crying every time they enter the kitchen to eat days-old food because you couldn’t figure out how to make money to buy a new oven. Or a microwave.

That last paragraph was a true story, by the way. Still a little shook at myself for continuing to play later iterations of that game as if I was any good at micromanaging.

Anyway, now that we’ve taken that weird side-trip down memory lane… the kind of video games I think of when I compare my life to a video game are the questing kind. Skyrim or Fallout or something along those lines. Where you start at a point, there’s a whole world to explore, you develop an inventory, and you make connections with other characters.

That sounds a lot like life, doesn’t it?

I think all of us start with a “main quest” in our lives. I could totally “Jesus Juke” everyone right now and say our ultimate main quest is to be the most like Jesus we can… and ultimately yes… that’s the ultimate “main quest.” But I’m talking about the main quest that is a strong passion for you. The kind of thing where, whenever you do it, every cell of your being comes alive in a new way and whenever you accomplish that thing, you think, “THIS is why I was put on the earth.”

I believe that is a person’s “main quest.” Everyone’s main quest is different. Mine is to help people. What does that look like? I don’t know… what I’m doing, I guess. Cleaning houses, watching animals (let’s not talk about that one right now… my bad for thinking I could get away from that completely, lol), being a traveling buddy for sales events, even helping my friends learn how to be a little bit better on their own main quests.

Is there a title for characters like that in video games? Those aren’t mages, are they? (I might sound like I know what I’m talking about, but I definitely just have enough gamer friends to pretend… I’m about at the end of my knowledge.)

The point is, not everyone has the same “main quest”… or what the Christians would call, a “calling.”

And then there are even “side quests” on this thing called Life.
A few examples from my life of a side quest:
– anytime my mom asks if we can stop at the store on our way back to her house after work
– anytime a friend texts me out of the blue and asks for an impromptu coffee date
– anytime a friend calls and needs to talk about the way their morning is going (surprisingly, I do still have friends that call!)

Those examples are not things that directly affect my main quest, but they add valuable XP (experience points 😉 ) to my life. Plus, in all of those situations, I’m building actual relationships with other people (side note, the autofill on this blog just suggested “players” instead of “people”).

One of my absolute favorite things to talk about in terms of video game slang, especially this week, is having things in my inventory. If you’ve ever played a game, sometimes your inventory is so full of stuff, you don’t even know what you have anymore.

Last night, my friend Rachel suggested I look up a new friend’s email on our church’s online directory and I was like, “Yep, definitely forgot that was in my inventory. I have not once needed to use that before now.”
Full disclosure: still haven’t used it.

So this blog isn’t necessarily for any kind of update purpose, it’s just to let everyone know that sometimes, it’s okay to think of life as a video game… provided you don’t suddenly think it’s okay to kill people and steal cars. This is NOT that kind of video game and… 0/10 recommend doing illegal things because you suddenly think that’s cool. I will NOT be vouching for you in a court of law. No matter how many XP you’ve given me; you’ll be on your own for that one.

With that disclaimer out of the way, I think it’s time to close out this post. 🙂 Have a good week, everyone!