I was busy bed rotting when I got a call from my friend, asking me to meet her downstairs. Why, I asked? I had a bunch of meetings lined up for the day, and I had a habit of not leaving my room unless I had something specific to do (terrible, I know).
Well, to go sidequesting of course, she replied. As a typical type A person, that statement was absurd to me. My day runs on a tight schedule, with no room for exploration. What do you mean you want to voluntarily step outside and do something just for the sake of it? Isn’t that a terrible waste of time? Instead, I could do something much more productive, like sit in my bed and doomscroll through Instagram for hours at a stretch. Yes, the irony isn’t lost on me. But after my third or fourth sidequest, I began seeing a different side of things. I’ve used this word a lot, but what does it mean?
WHAT IS A SIDEQUEST?
A sidequest is a deviation from the ordinary. While it originated as a word in video gaming to describe an optional task outside the main goal, it’s been used in real life to refer to an enjoyable activity that adds flavour to one’s life, not necessarily contributing to the “larger goal”. However, isn’t life lived in between the little moments? For someone as structured as me, anything counts as a side quest, from exploring an unseen part of campus to going on an impromptu trip over the weekend. For me, here’s where the memories are made. I’m not going to remember what I did in my 7th meeting of the day, but I’ll definitely look back on the one time my friends and I were arguing about which South Indian breakfast item was superior while sitting on a boat in the middle of a lake.
If I hadn’t mentioned it for the 300th time already, I enjoy structure. I like my day to go exactly as I’ve envisioned with no surprises in between. But I’ve come to realise, where’s the fun in that? As someone who’s about 80 days away from graduating, the panic about not having had a lot of unplanned fun in my undergrad days is slowly setting on me. However, not all hope is lost! For me, the key to a good sidequest is saying yes to everything. I’ve done some things that are quite out of the box for me, such as pulling an all-nighter with my friends and making a mini movie but this happened only because I put myself out there to try something new.
LIFE ISN’T MADE UP OF ONE MOMENT
A lot of us (especially me) live life with the intention of achieving one goal, thinking that everything we do should lead up to the fruition of that singular moment. Anything else we do is just a distraction and a potential waste of time. But life is too short to be fixated on just one thing. There’s so much to learn, explore and try – let me just say you’re missing out on a lot of incredible things if you aren’t making that extra effort. It’s worth that long walk to the grocery store instead of ordering off Instamart, just so you get to see the sun setting on the horizon. Living life on default mode takes away the magic of being alive.
We were not built to wake up, work and go back to rest like machines. It’s so easy to get caught up in our busy schedules, and not set aside for other things. My advice is to be intentional about incorporating whimsy into your day. Nothing that brings happiness into your life or a moment of relief is ever pointless. As adults, we have a bigger opportunity to live our lives as we please, but surprisingly enough we lose out on the motivation to do silly things for the sake of it. Dress up for no reason, try a new recipe, go on a colour hunt in your neighborhood! The opportunities are endless – I recently went on a flower walk for Valentine’s day and it was the cutest thing ever. Finding whimsy around you is the best way to romanticise the way you live.
TAKEAWAY
Sidequests bring colour into your life, different perspectives and a new found appreciation for the ordinary. Going forward into the year, I’m hoping to be more receptive to spontaneity. Maybe I will go birdwatching on the weekend instead of hitting snooze for the 17th time. Remember, the point of sidequests isn’t extravagance, it’s the ability to expand on the ordinary. Here’s to random silly activities that hopefully make you smile a little extra this week!