Larisa told me that I was welcome to purge my feedreader, do away with it completely, on one condition.
I must read Pink Pigtail Inn!
She had nothing to fear, I will never purge her feed, although sometimes I am a little behind.
While I was catching up I came across an excellent post about her bubble.
Not her Pally bubble & hearth
Not her burst bubble
No, it was about the protective, even meditative bubble that WoW provides for her.
She relates it back to the bubble you experience when you are drying your hair with a hairdryer. Nice warm winds across your face and a cone of silence that prevents intrusions from the outside world.
Like I say it is a great post and my 1st reaction was all positive, I was nodding until I risked having my head drop off.
However by the time I read through all the comments my real life experiences intruded and while I agree wholeheartedly that a hairdryer makes an excellent bubble, WoW does not.
I couldn’t bubble & hearth
I know that some of you know that I have a history of depression. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realised that my normal operating mood was not normal.
I didn’t realize this because I had been depressed for so long. After 25 years anything becomes normality. In fact it was a flippant comment to a friend of my that made me wake up.
My comment:
Yes I contemplate suicide, everyone does, it’s normal!
My friends comment:
No, it’s not normal. Suicide will only enter your thoughts if something isn’t right.
You can thank her for this blog.
I thank her for saving my life.
I never attempted suicide, but I came close. Luckily for me I had a great circle of friends at pushed my abuse to one side and supported me back to being “more normal”.
The depression is subdued, not gone forever, just focus polymorphed and chain trapped into insignificance.
The problem with WoW as medication.
WoW is a great escape. It’s easy to become immersed in the landscapes and take control of your destiny. It’s filled with achievements, mates and overcoming obstacles.
It is only a placebo, it doesn’t treat, it doesn’t cure. It just dulls the pain for a short period, usually only while you are in game, maybe outside the game if you allow it to fill your non-WoW life as well.
WoW is no better than a holiday.
If you have ever worked in a job with responsibilities beyond the immediate, beyond ensuring the burger doesn’t burn to a crisp you will understand that when you return from a holiday, you need another holiday.
- Before you leave you have to catch up and clear your desk.
- While you are away you slowly recharge your batteries and recover ready to…
- Return to work, return to the real world. The work has piled up on your desk, the bills are overflowing from your letter box.
The momentary release you gained from the holiday is wiped soon after your return.
RL won’t go away.
If the dishes are piled up, the dog needs a walk, the kids need to be fed, the debt collector is banging on the door, this won’t go away while you play WoW.
Not only will it still be there, no matter how much you try to convince yourself that WoW is meditation time, it isn’t.
Meditation is about clearing your head, Wow is about filling it.
Meditation is difficult.
You have to to clear the mind of all thoughts, breath deep and relax.
You know why it’s difficult?
Because thoughts keep intruding on your “peace”.
It took me a long time to realize this, but that’s what’s meant to happen!
You are meditating to clear your mind of unnecessary distractions so you can solve the issues that plague you.
You meditate on a subject, you solve the problem and guess what?
- S: (v) chew over, think over, meditate, ponder, excogitate, contemplate, muse, reflect, mull, mull over, ruminate, speculate (reflect deeply on a subject) “I mulled over the events of the afternoon”; “philosophers have speculated on the question of God for thousands of years”; “The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate”
- S: (v) study, meditate, contemplate (think intently and at length, as for spiritual purposes) “He is meditating in his study”
You feel better… More relaxed… More able to tackle the difficult problems in your life.
WoW, on the other hand, fills your mind with more problems. Gems, enchants, enrage timers, noobs.
The closest you will get to meditation in WoW is fishing… But even that only allows 20 seconds of thought between interruptions. It will also turn you crazy all on it’s own.
Methods of Meditation.
I’m not a professional, I can’t give you real advice, but I can share something that have been recommended or have worked for me.
- Meditation – assuming you can come to terms with the initial lack of peace, this will be a protective bubble that helps you sort things through.
- Walking and running: I’m not a physical kind of bloke. To the fridge for a beer is my normal marathon length. My old GP always told me to go running.I told him to get stuffed.He was right of course. A short walk does the same thing as a mediation session… Assuming you take the iPod out of your ears and let the brain settle.
- Take the dog for a walk – Same thing as walking – but you have to take the dog for a walk. Why fill your own backyard with dog poo, when you can use your neighbour’s nature strip.Don’t have a dog?
Borrow one!I was dog-sitting for a mate for a couple of weeks. His dog didn’t care too much for WoW, she wanted to walk and run -and I went with her!
- Take the kids to the park.They love it, you’ll love it (once you extracate yourself from the slide built for 5 year olds.Most of your time at the playground will be spent either meditating while the kids run free, or climbing to the top of impossible structures to get them down.Don’t have kids?
Borrow them!Yeah do yourself a favour and do your mates/family a favor.
As a parent I can assure you if a trusted person turned up and offered to take Odin to the park, there would be an overnight bag in your hand before you could finish the offer.
You get some kid-walking meditation, the parents get some kid-free meditation.
- Swim. Swimming, especially if you are at the beach, especially if it’s a shark haunting beach, will clear your mind of everything (well, maybe apart from survival).
- Blow-dry your hair. Larisa was right about one thing. Blow drying your hair does create a nice protective meditative bubble.Go on, do it, you’ll love it, especially if you are doing it purely for the sake of a break, not because you are running late for work.
Turn off the PC and do stuff. Go tackle some of the things that are troubling you.
If there were 5 things troubling you before, and you knock one off your list, there will be 20% less after.
Fix all 5 things and WoW won’t be an escape, it will be an adventure!
Gnomer and Out!
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wow-is-no-better-than-a-holiday
http://gnomeaggedon.net/2010/02/05/wow-is-no-better-than-a-holiday/
great post
totally agree with this
As a parent I can assure you if a trusted person turned up and offered to take Odin to the park, there would be an overnight bag in your hand before you could finish the offer.
keep up the good work
as someone who plays WoW and also meditates, i give this post two thumbs up. i also would like to thank your friend, Gnomer, because i can’t imagine not having you around to keep writing your great blog. keep on keeping on, good sir!
Now I lay me down to sleep… and my mind awakens from the stupor of constant digital and social stimulation, free to think for once.
Hey Klep…when you say “digital stimulation” you are talking about digital as in electronic….right? Right? Right?
WoW is a massive escape. As is any other activity that you enjoy doing. WoW has heaps of things to do. Enjoyment is highly necessary to balance out the other parts of life e.g. work and chores.
This is an excellent entry, thank you for it. I’ve been trying to take more time away from WoW lately, and this reminds me of all the reasons exactly why it’s necessary.
Really awesome post Gnomer, love it.
[...] place. Although I may be doing that a bit less since I read this post by Gnomeageddon about how WoW is no better than a holiday. In brief; you may go on holiday but your problems are still there when you get back and it’s [...]
Yeah… nothing’s like a good hair dry… Do you know something? It’s probably connected to my childhood. I used to have an upset stomach as a baby. Don’t know what it’s called in English but they can have it like when they’re three months old. Crying for hours. My mum told me that she used to calm me down and get me to sleep using the hari dryer, blowing at me. And I did the same with my youngest daughter when she just wouldn’t stop crying… Worked perfectly! There’s something about haqir dryers that is just every so soothing. Or maybe it’s just you and me?
and clothes dryers… I used to go to our laundry, turn on the dryer and relax… I wonder if it’s the white noise?
Have been enjoying your blog for some time. An interesting post. As a doctor (who sometimes has to deal with mental health issues) and the husband of someone who battles depression every day, I really related to you. I do think your interpretation vs. another blogger who instead felt WoW was quite therapeutic shows what an individual experience depression is and that many people have many ideas about what is good, what is escape, what is therapeutic or meditative, and all opinions are valid. If A works well for you and B works well for me then it’s a great thing that we both found what works. The key is to never give up. Keep trying things. Exercise, WoW, family, reading. petting the dog/cat…whatever. Thanks again for a great post!
PS-@ Larisa: it’s called colic. Vacuums work well too
Great comment of which I agree 100%
One thing we disagree on (well from Gnomeaggedon’s point of view) is:
You say (your blog): Gnome’s are yummy…
I say: Gnome’s are hungry…
Just discovered your blog the othe day… It’s still open in my browser for devouring.
To which I must reply, “have you ever tried one?” If gnot, how do you gnow? A light flavor not unlike chicken…particularly when they’ve been lightly seared by a lava blast and a few lightning bolts. A true hordish delicacy!
Yum, yum!
To which I answer… I prefer beef
[...] 16, 2010 by Euripedes The background for this post can be read here and [...]
[...] Gnomaggedon and Larisa on their “bubbles” – a look at using WoW as an escape or holiday. [...]
[...] http://gnomeaggedon.net/2010/02/16/wow-is-no-better-than-a-holiday/#more-6043 [...]
Man I hate falling behind on reading!
Anywho…
It’s interesting to me how a lot of us have so much in common and have been connected through the mutual interest of this game.
Gnomey, I used to think such thoughts were normal too. And I hate when such thoughts creep their way back in, because then I have to go “wtf gtfo what’s not right?”
I don’t usually describe WoW (or any game) as an escape. Sometimes I do, but I try to be careful on my word selection. Yes, gaming is something I enjoy and I want to relax and have fun. But for me…I try to keep it as a hobby and think of it as a hobby.
Difference may be subtle, but I think for some it’s an important difference.
Besides, I hate blowdrying my hair. It’s noisy and makes my hair frizzy.
[...] Gnomaggedon and Larisa on their “bubbles” – a look at using WoW as an escape or holiday. [...]