Still not ready with the next forest life journal (I want to actually finish the project I'm working on before I post it), so I'll share with you something different instead. I'd like to know, when was the last time you had a day completely off the internet?
I did that yesterday and, wow, its easy to forget what that feels like. It's actually great, you have more energy and creativity at your disposal, the day is spent on more meaningful things. Of course there's a bit of anxiety involved, but you just have to sit tight and observe it, till you're ready to keep going on about the day and all the stuff you can do to make it a good one.
It's just crazy how the internet has taken such a large part of our lives and we can go on and on without stopping to analyze this. Many depend on it financially so they feel pressured to be always updated on what's going out, feeling lots of fomo if they don't.
This is not the first time I do internet fasting, in fact I think I did a post on this some time ago, but it was just really good. I think it would be really nice to do intermittent internet fasting as much as possible, only hop online every other day. That would be a good balance so as not to identify myself so much with what happens online, for it's important to always be aware that it's just a game.
I'm going to confess something here. I'm a bit of a videogame addict. Not in the sense that I spend many hours playing (I wouldn't get anything done if that was the case) but in the sense that I feel I kind of need my daily dose. Particularly I'm addicted to RPGs or any game that has an evolving story and character development.
Now, I've never liked MMORPGS because of their shallow stories and the stupid amounts of grinding they expect from you. But one day I ran into Ni No Kuni: Crosswords which caught my attention because of the Ghibli styled art, which I love, and then the deal was sealed when I saw it had play to earn mechanics.
The game started really well story-wise, graphics are beautiful, music is magestic, gameplay not too fun but it rewarded exploration and that's a plus for me because it helps me cope with my desire to travel which I will satisfy at some point, but you can't homestead and travel at the same time. Anyways, I got pretty hooked and have spent many nights on that world, not only grinding, but actually inhabiting it, like a parallel reality.
During the internet fast I missed playing badly, but I soldiered through the craving and emerged victorious. I had also a realization: why do I always play these games where there is so much combat at the center of it, if in real life I never fight or put my combat power to test? I always shy from confrontation in the physical world, so why am I spending night after night fighting these fictional monsters?
It's obvious. In the physical world combat means effort and pain, in the virtual world you give yourself a little dopamine kick every time you win and you don't have to feel any discomfort. But it's important to know that everything you do both in the virtual world as well as in the physical world impacts your consciousness in some way, so the ideal path is to be mindful of this and not leave it to chance.