Life as a RPG game
I've always loved RPG video games. Games like Might and Magic 5, Final Fantasy 7, Mass Effect, etc, brought me to alternate realities where I live the characters and the lore of those worlds. You always start off as some character(s) and you suck at the beginning. You slowly move through the world and make new friends and together go through quests. You experience different events, different quests, and overcome obstacles to get to the next point in the plot. And at the end, you reach the "final boss" and you defeat it. Game over, and you sit back with magical stars in you eye because you've gone through a magical journey that lit you up in magical ways.
Why can't real life be like this? Every time I put down my game controller and step out of the game world and back into the real world, it's always dissatisfying. You go from the highs of saving the universe to preparing for another day at work tomorrow. Virtual reality to Real reality always seemed like a downgrade.
I used to feel this away for many years (all my life, rather) because in real life I don't really have anything inspiring to live for or do. Work and school always seemed mundane, and the incessant going out, drinking, taking drugs, always seemed like patching holes in a slowly sinking ship. I felt like this for a really long time and I couldn't find out the root cause as to why. I realized that I was living in a very bad paradigm that was the source of this experience: Separation of Job and Life. Your job brings in the 💰, and you do Life separately.
This is fine if you can cleanly separate Work and Life, but in reality they always get mixed together. Your life is not like oil and water and more like paint. You can separate out the different colors, but when things shake up they will mix together.
A bad day at work will overflow to your Life. A negative thing in Life at night will spill over to the day.
What if you can live life as a continuoity? One where you love and enjoy the work which in part fulfils your life? And the other way around?
What if you can design your life like a RPG where you live and breathe the main roles and go through life as the role?
You start your new role as the Hero of your life and embrace the journey and all its ups and downs. Any obstacles coming your way, you deal with it. You level up, and you move on to the next quest.
In Oct 2021 I rage quit my job with no backups. After some deep reflection and contemplation, I've concluded that this I am not going back to the corporate world. I'm going to live for myself and make a living only answering to myself and my conscience. This is the start of the RPG of my life. This is the start of My Hero's Journey.