People don’t think about video games helping people through a difficult time in their life. They tend to get a bad rap really. It’s not that hard to find opinions about how certain games are too violent or how people waste their lives on them. However, I can say the opposite. Well, maybe not about the violence part, but, the USRB ratings are there for a reason. You wouldn’t take a kid to a movie without checking to see whether it’s rated PG or rated R.
Please note that I also go to the counseling center as well.
I tend to get very anxious about things. Honestly, it got a lot worse when I started college as many of you can probably relate to. I dwell on things. Worst case scenario situations play themselves over and over in my head until I can’t sleep or even go through the day without thinking about it. It can affect my grades, my attitude, and even my social life.
Back in high school, I was able to avoid this by reading. Oh boy, I would read a book a week just so I could avoid thinking about my problems and momentarily be able to focus on something else. In college, I found that that wasn’t helping. Maybe it was because I was now reading ten times more than I was in high school so even leisure reading began to look more like a chore. Maybe it was because I didn’t have access to the books I had at home that I always turn to when I’m feeling down. Whatever it was, I needed to find a new way to take my mind off of what was bothering me.
For the first few years, I was able to slip by not really having a way to cope. I’ve always played video games. At school, for the first year, I couldn’t play them. I didn’t really play on my computer at the time. Then I got a Steam account and slowly began building my collection on my laptop. Around this time, I started getting worse with my tendency to dwell on things. I was having trouble finding a job for the summer. My parents were pressuring me to get one, despite the fact that even if I applied to a hundred places, I only got rejection emails or no response at all. In my head, I repeatedly thought that this meant I would never find a job at all in life. Every tv show I watched reminded me that I couldn’t even get a call back for an interview. It made me sick to my stomach most days. I was an anxiety-riddled mess.
I finally bought the first Mass Effect game my sophomore year. This was a series I’ve always loved, but had started with the second one because everyone said it was better (which, honestly, 2 is the best game in the series in my opinion.) I’ve always loved video games. From when I was in middle school playing World of Warcraft through my dad’s account to when I started playing console games with Skyrim, they were a nice, relaxing thing for me to do. Honestly, the story driven ones especially helped me boost my creativity.
When I bought the Mass Effect game sophomore year, I really hadn’t been playing it as much. I took a lot of writing intensive classes that year and didn’t have much time to do a lot of other things. When I did play, I set a time limit for myself so I could get work done. It wasn’t until junior year, at the height of my anxiety attack about finding a job and never being able to make money (irrational, yes, but when is anxiety ever rational?) that I really started playing.
This is a game where you can make your own character, who is always referred to as Commander Shepard or just Shepard. My Shepard was named Evelyn. She was amazing and I spent hours playing as her, figuring out how I was going to romance in-game, and coming up with a backstory beyond what is given to you in the game. Eventually, I actually beat the entire game with her which, honestly, completing a game has always been a real struggle for me. Maybe that was just me wanting to finish it because I really wanted to romance Garrus Vakarian in Mass Effect 2.
I started finding that playing this game, actually really effectively took my mind off of my problems. It was engaging all of my thoughts, visuals and hand movements so that I was fully occupied. There was no chance for my mind to go to worst case scenario. Even when I stopped playing, it took a while for those thoughts to slowly creep back into my brain. It was so relieving.
So I played more, found a balance between doing school, and found myself in a better place mentally. Eventually, I was in a good enough place by the end of the year to start applying for jobs again. It took a little bit after school let out to actually get one, but I did find one. I even had three interviews, which is a lot better than none at all. I still continue to play video games, though my old laptop busted so I brought my Xbox up from home. They help me de-stress. It’s not one of the more socially acceptable ways to relax, but everyone has their own way. Don’t be afraid to do what’s best for you!Gif Source