My life explained
in possibly weird game metaphors
Life to me, is like managing a restaurant. Have you played Diner Dash or similar simulation games? There has to be an anticipation of different needs, the resilience to deal with the resulting consequences, subject to context and time. Our ambitions, needs, obligations and responsibilities are like serving different tables at a restaurant. The better at anticipation and the demands they require, the less stress will accumulate later. If there is a slip up in the chain, it will be insane trying to serve multiple hungry, upset tables all at once — which could have been prevented if the sequencing and resource management is done right earlier.
On the same tangent, trying to maximize life is like playing Sim City or any similar-type games. There is no free lunch, no infinite resources, and there’s a ton of tradeoffs to be made. Want adventures? Sure. Give up safety. Want comfort? Sure. Accept routine. Want to feel the beauty of a deep, long-term relationship? Sure. Say goodbye to some semblance of personal freedom and mobility. Want to work really, really hard? Are we prepared to ignore the needs of the people who love and need us? Want great health and energy? Am we willing to put in the rigorous discipline?
My life right now is like trying to serve one table really well and being in denial that the dishes accumulating at other tables do not exist. I am also trying to work out what is the kind of city I want to build, if I imagine myself as one, assuming we are not sick of metaphors by now. There is often some idealized version of the city we want to build, not realizing that perhaps we’re better off as remote villages. Or maybe we don’t actually want to build anything but preserve wild, free land.
The hardest part is knowing what truly makes me come alive and what I am prepared to tradeoff, when it seems like my conscious knowledge of these are not in sync with the speed that I am actually evolving. I guess that is the anticipation problem. Maybe I am not a restaurant that wants to serve the same excellent crafted menu all year long. Maybe I just want to be a pop-up shop with random opening hours and a menu that changes spontaneously. I could possibly want to be the former and latter at different junctures.
All of that while trying to convince myself to not close up shop, call it a day, and decide that it is pointless in this economic climate. Yes, still a metaphor.
