The Grind

In many ways, life is not at all like a video game. The foremost difference between the two concepts (IMO), is this: Games typically allow for limitless attempts, but life is not so generous. Sadly, despite medicinal advances, there isn’t a way to earn a 1-Up in real life. I guess some people have technically died and been brought back to life, but that’s not really the same as completely restarting from your last checkpoint or whatever.

Even for circumstances that aren’t quiet as dramatic as death, we are rarely given do-overs in life. When you fail an exam in school, some kind teachers or professors might allow you to redo it, but usually an F is an F. In a job interview, if you say something that the interviewer doesn’t like, you probably won’t get the job. And unfortunately, you probably won’t be able to restart and pick a different dialogue option.

Author’s Note: if you have Ashton Kutcher’s weird time travel power from The Butterfly Effect (2004), these examples might not apply to you.

For some people (Read: Me, Josh), this leads to a feeling of being unable to make mistakes. At least not without life imploding or ending. So when I do mess up, which is plenty of the time, I am very hard on myself. I can’t help the feeling in the back of my mind that there’s only so many mistakes I can make before my game life is over.

It’s generally pretty healthy to remind myself that life isn’t a game. When I think about, say, running across a busy highway to reach the other side, it’s good to remember that unlike Frogger, I will not return to life if I get run over by a U-Haul. However, I recently began thinking about the ways life does mimic videogames, or vice versa.

For example: grinding. Even people who are naturally talented or gifted at certain activities need to grind up a bit to become the best. It’s just the rules. You’ve gotta catch a hundred or so crayfish to level up your fishing stat before you can reel in a swordfish or a shark.

Author’s Note: Please do not fish for sharks they are wonderful creatures.

However, when it comes to both in-game and IRL grinding, most people don’t enjoy it very much. I always feel great after grinding out reps at the gym to level up my STR or DEX, yet it still feels like such a hassle to work out.

Not to be too much of a critic, but IMO the leveling curve in life needs some work. Games seem to reward your grinding with real results at a much faster and more consistent pace. Life’s level-ups are far slower, and often don’t seem to make any real difference in our stats or abilities. Or at least they seem that way.

It would be helpful if I could look up and see a little blue bar filling up each time I go to the gym or cook a new meal or whatever. Sadly, that’s not the case, and I rarely give myself much credit for the progress I have made. But: I’m trying to be better about that going forward, and trying does at least count for something.

Ok folks, I know I said last time that I’d be posting more consistently, so thank you for bearing with me. I really DO want to write more, but I’ve been putting the ole blog on the backburner. I can’t promise anything, but I’m going to try to write another post sometime next week.

It’s already in the works, so I have high hopes. That being said, I’m not going to commit to anything more than that lol. As of late, I’ve been managing my expectations a bit differently–trying to keep them more realistic and not put so much on my plate at once.

It’s gone well so far, so hopefully it translates to the blog!

Take care, and until next time 🙂
Josh