Feel the Fire Instead

In video games, I’m the hero.

I put in effort, and rewards come out. Achievement unlocked. Ding!

In my brain, my reward centers go “ahhhhhhh.” They say, “Hey, you’re doing a great job, so have these endorphins.”

In my life, nothing happens, so I’ve learned to say:

Feel the fire instead.

When life bites you, the natural impulse is to evade the pain.

We have the best painkillers these days: Netflix, any food you want, online shopping, oceans of shoes, so much style, free porn, great drugs, godlike electronics, and, you guessed it, video games. Video games that transport you. Video games where you can create anything and be valued for it. Video games where your foes can always be defeated.

Life doesn’t have that, not always. Life has half-victories and setbacks and ugliness and injustices and days where you just want to hide under a happy-face mask. Once in a while, though, life has victories that defy the odds. Once in a while, you are shocked at what you’ve accomplished, and you ask yourself, “How the hell did I do that?”

Truly winning feels spectacular — so much more so than gratification. So next time you start to turn to whatever that thing is you use to quench the fire, consider the alternative. Stoke it and revel in its flames instead.