It’s amazing when the rest of the year makes a mad dash towards the end and we eventually find ourselves in a brand new year. The holidays continue to keep us busy until New Year’s, we tie up whatever loose ends we need to before we’re off to celebrate our respective holidays, or we get reflective as we try to imagine all the hopes and goals we want to achieve when the calendar flips to January 1st. Having entered the month of December left me thinking about what I have to do before 2016––I need a break from my video game challenges.
After coming off of an incomplete video game challenge last month and finding myself juggling too many things in my life lately, I’m starting to feel a little burned out. As much as I enjoy doing these challenges and tracking my progress on the blog to remain focused on one video game to complete within a month, having too much going on at once at the moment has added unintentional pressure on myself to hold myself responsible for doing what I said I would do.
I’m not saying I won’t be doing these challenges anymore because I still want to. It also gives me plenty to talk about when I may sometimes struggle with figuring out what to write for my Monday updates. The challenges won’t go away, but with the timing of Christmas and New Year’s and needing to sort out a bunch of personal things in my life, I needed to start knocking off a few things from my mental to-do list.
The brief break will also give me a chance to still play video games, but without the confines of a game I pick and announce on my blog. There’s still the DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition to finish and my slow walk to the finish line with Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. The minor pieces of each game I still have to complete is definitely not enough to devote an entire month for a video game challenge setup. I’ve also been more interested in watching shows on Netflix or Hulu these days than actually playing video games when I have time to unwind. I guess I’m experiencing a slight shift in hobbies I want to spend more time on, but whatever it is, video games are kind of taking a backseat at the moment.
By January, I plan on picking up where I left off with my video game challenges but maybe not right away. You’ll understand a little bit better when the time gets closer to making another announcement with regards to the first week of January. Until then, please keep reading and following my blog!
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Yeah, sometimes hobbies change, or they come and go depending on what else is going on (and energy levels!). A lot of times video games actually make me more wound up, so they’re not always “relaxing” to me. Watching TV and movies can be nicer sometimes when you want to unwind! Enjoy the break and the holidays! =)
That’s very true! I also think it depends on the game you’re playing. If you’re playing a game where the level is hard or a boss fight is particularly tough to beat, you’re not going to feel relaxed when playing it. You’re going to feel frustrated and tired, and those aren’t very good feelings to have, am I right?
With the break from games, I have been able to watch a little more anime than I used to or I’ve been using the time to refocus on writing again. 🙂 It’s good to put some hobbies on the shelf until you’re ready to take them on again. Hope you enjoy your holidays as well!
Can’t wait to hear about whatever becomes of your challenges next year! I totally understand needing a break though — games, as wonderful as they are, eat up free time like anything else. And when your free time is at a premium, priorities must be made. And with so many great shows to watch and catch up on, I can’t blame anyone for choosing TV over games. Like Ashley said in her comment, games sometimes aren’t the best things to “relax” with.
Haha, yeah, especially if it gets to a level where you’re going to throw your controller out the window! How can anyone relax and have fun when your game is just making you angry? 😛 Length of a game or how quickly you can beat a level definitely factors in with the amount of time you have to play. There are rare days when I can marathon a game and there are others where I only have an hour or less to play. If I’m already taking too much time progressing the game, the more I’m going to feel less likely to want to choose gaming over watching TV. The game starts to feel more like a chore than a fun activity I want to do and that’s not a place I want to be at.
For now, I can focus on other things and enjoy the upcoming holidays until I feel excited to start gaming again! 🙂
December is the perfect month to just let challenges go, and go with the flow. Just game when and what you want to! By the time January comes around you’ll be ready for another challenge!
Thank you! I quite agree too! 🙂 It’s sometimes necessary to cut back on some things in order to recharge and refocus on other things. I’ll be excited to get back into it next year!
It’s hard to keep up stuff like this in December, too much else that needs attention. Looking forward to when you’re able to start up again!
Thanks! Yeah, it has been really tough and I’ve also been spending most of my time out of the house too to spend time with friends or family and that really eats away whatever leftover free time you have left. I can’t wait until things hopefully get quieter on my end to dive back into gaming!