Time. One could never have enough of it.
It’s funny how abundantly time flows all around us, yet we can never seem to find the right moments to do the things we claim to love. Recently, I’ve been juggling new projects while moonlighting as my daughter’s personal chauffeur during her IGCSE exams (the real one this time and not the mocks). The result? My writing– an activity I’ve cherished since escaping corporate life– has been relegated to the “when I get around to it” pile.
And yet, during those precious pockets of free time that did materialize, what did I do? I filled them with other delights: binge-watching TV and, of course, gaming.
Does this mean I don’t enjoy writing as much as my other “frivolous” activities? I think a more nuanced self-reflection is required for a complex question such as this.
I still genuinely love writing. While it may look as simple as inking thoughts onto paper (or more accurately, arranging bytes in a RAM module), writing gives me a moment to be contemplative about the events happening around me. The experience of committing experiences to the page offers an opportunity to reexamine what I might have missed. Often, I find humour. Other times, inspiration. And sometimes, it’s purely cathartic.
But here’s where things get interesting.
When I’m completely absorbed in a gripping episode of The Last of Us Season 2 or doing turn-based battles with monsters in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, I realize I’m experiencing something remarkably similar to what writing gives me.
I find myself in that same reflective headspace as writing– just with better visual effects and significantly less grammatical responsibility. There’s a meditative quality to losing yourself in these crafted worlds, a chance to process emotions and experiences through someone else’s narrative lens.
Perhaps what I’m discovering is that my creative satisfaction doesn’t exclusively depend on being the creator. Sometimes, being a deeply engaged consumer of beautifully crafted stories– whether they unfold on screen, through gameplay, or across the page– feeds the same part of my soul that writing does.
So now that I’ve scratched the writing itch with this little ramble, it’s only fair I return to my other muses. Life, after all, is about balance. Between work deadlines and chauffeuring duties, I’ll write a little, watch a little and save the world– one turn-based battle at a time.