I have always loved playing video games. The creativity involved in presenting ideas and stories in a way that is visual and audible, and being able to change it or influence it as you go.

In real life, we don’t really get precise measurements of things like health, or skill-level. Sure, there are assessments and tests to “measure” a lot of these things, but those are up to interpretation.

I like to view my own life through the lens of an action-adventure video game. It helps me keep track of a lot of things, and to face challenges and fears that are hard for me.

I have drawn a few frames as an example, and to provide some inspiration. In the top panel, we see “me” as a character, with my level and health-bar at the bottom of the “screen”. For my level, I chose my age at the time. My “health” is represented by how much money I had at the time.

Those appendages striking me are parts of Debt, The Ever-Hungry, my current biggest challenge, and introduced in this blog post. Each one is labeled with what it is, whether a credit card, or rent. Each one “damages” me by taking away some of my money, or health.

I am not completely helpless, though. The final panel shows how I was able to heal, via a paycheck. This infused more money into my “health”, which I can then use to attack Debt, The Ever-Hungry, making it smaller and smaller until it is finally gone.

There is more to life than this, of course. There is personal growth, professional skills, and relationships to be considered. Since we are the one to create and measure these for ourselves, we can be the ones to set goals, learn, and grow to achieve them.

There are quests to go on, both main story quests (home, family, career, etc.) as well as side-quests and sub-quests (shopping, hobbies, raining in the form of education or physical exercise).

There are many directions you can take this, and endless ways to “play” and live your life or tell your story. I find that this makes even the biggest challenges I have to face, and everyday moment, more fun, enjoyable, and reinvigorates the sense of awe I feel about the whole world.

Not only that, but every time the time spiral starts again, it’s like playing New Game+!