On an Island Not so Far Away
Screenshot of the Hidden Beach Entrance
During the great lockdown of spring 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released amidst the chaos. I had prepped and had my gear primed and ready to play it. Ironically, it was a start to a very different lifestyle both virtually and in reality.
There was a lot more that the game contributed to outside of simply grinding to pay off debts to the infamous Tanuki, Tom Nook. There were also customization features like clothing and custom placeable paths for your island. There was an explosion of designers coming up with outfits and island designs, using the limited furniture that was available in the beginning. Then as time progressed, island and clothing designs got comparatively more complex. It only made sense, since a majority of the world was in the same situation. Being stuck at home, this gave all of us time to indulge in creating and designing. Even outside of the virtual world, I started picking up new skills or refining old ones like the rest of the world. I baked pastries more often and did a gardening day with my family. Creatively I was more involved and, like in-game, the projects became more complex.
After that brief moment of creative bliss, I was hit with reality once again. The lockdown extended for much longer than expected, and everyday, cases kept on rising. Drawn back into the gravity of the situation, my mind became crowded, and complicated creative projects did not help. I was lost and my creativity was depleted after overusing it for so long at the initial start of the lockdown.
For an extended period of time, I abandoned my island and the many villagers on it as I had to go back to my responsibilities. I stopped doing anything creative as I had to refocus back on adapting to remote learning and getting back to work safely. There were more things that took priority in my life and I felt like I had no time to enjoy anything creative. Also, after the initial grind of the game, I lost interest in the monotonous cycle of gathering resources to help design my island. It shared too many similarities with my school and work cycle, so I lost joy in it as well.
As time passed, I started to feel like I was deprived of something. I was not expressing myself as I went through life, and that was taking a toll on my mental health. I started to lose motivation in school and work, and I had to work harder to finish simple assignments. In utter defeat, I decided to just stop trying to brute force myself to do the assignment and just take a break. Instead of binge watching videos, I decided to visit my Animal Crossing Island again.
I went through and checked back up on my villagers, and I started noticing little things I could do around my island again. Albeit small, I started to decorate my island section by section. A little fishing area then to an intricate entrance area. Step-by-step, I slowly started to make the island my own as I expressed my ideas in the furniture that I crafted and bought. I was planning areas and creating things for them, but those projects usually ended up being short-lived. I had more dedication and drive to fish and hunt for bugs that were not a part of my collection just yet. I liked to visit my friends’ islands and have them come over to mine so we can just spend time together. I simply wanted to enjoy life without any tasks that needed to be done.
In hindsight, the reason why I was so enthralled once I revisited the game was because I had completely abandoned myself when I started to refocus on work and school. And when I was taking up too many projects in the early stages of lockdown, I was not allowing myself to step back and just do nothing. This game was simply a reminder to myself that it was okay to enjoy life, and when you enjoy life, that is where creativity is sparked and productivity is born.
