When you google Spirit Wielder, you get a bunch of video game and sci-fi fantasy suggestions, which I think is really cool. However, I’m almost 40 years old and I have a wife and 2 kids. So I am not currently into video games, and in fact I’m comically bad at most video games. I believe there’s a good reason for that, and before talking about video games in any detail I want to delve into why I’m not that good at them.
My parents deserve a ton of respect for living a long healthy life full of working hard and raising me and my siblings. They did a good job. We’re all decent people and at least a little bit successful and happy. Love you Mom and Dad. But I think they made a big mistake with me when I was around 10 years old, deciding that Nintendo was surely not for me. In their opinion, it was only for losers, ne’er-do-wells, and a handful of rag tags. I however was destined for an esteemed life in old faithful corporate America. Sure, I have the benefit of hindsight, knowing now that a focus on computers, programming, gaming and electronics could have resulted in a vastly different outcome. But “How was I supposed to know?” they’ll say.
But I think it goes deeper than just the missed career and investing opportunities. I think I developed jealousy and resentment towards my friends whose parents did get them Nintendos. And what does a 10 year old know about handling and processing jealousy and resentment? Nada. But damn, Nintendo was so cool. Contra. Double Dragon. Tecmobowl. Not to mention Super Mario, Duck Hunt? So cool.
Emotions are funny things. People need to dig in and understand them better. I forget who said this, but emotions are an internal phenomenon. How you react to them is the external part that everyone else can see. Emotions are basically a unique combination of neurons firing in your brain and some natural hormone concoction that creates thoughts and mental feelings. If you could react better to your own emotions, how might your life change for the better? Hold that reaction a bit longer, until you’ve observed and recognized all of the particular emotions you feel, and have a good idea of why. Then issue your well thought out reaction to that set of feelings. You could gamify it. Turn your emotions into a video game. Get points for reacting in ways that keep you moving forward.
I am really bad at most video games. I guess I enjoy more role player games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or Grand Theft Auto. Sports games were never my thing. I played a fair amount of John Madden by myself and with friends, but never got real good at it. There were a number of times where I just got annihilated by friends playing Madden Football and Joe Montana’s Football on Sega. For a while Blades of Steel was fun. I actually think I was really good at that. Just kidding. I know that game was one of the easiest to be good at. It’s kinda like your buddy who says “hey I think the waitress really likes me!”.
I think I beat one of the Medal of Honor WW2 games, but it seemed like it was also designed to be easy. I simply never got into Legend of Zelda. Wouldn’t even know where to begin with that. Myst on PC. That was fun, but I got stumped and then stopped playing. I know I could have found out about secret codes, cheats and other stuff by reading the gamer magazines, but after my parents’ initial heavy-handed nudge away from video games, my interest turned elsewhere.
So anyway, yes, I was one of those poor souls whose parents failed to realize how big, mainstream and phenomenal computers, video games and programming would be. Even worse, their steering towards stale old “safe” career paths had a twinge of arrogance and disdain for the new technologies. I’ve heard Gary Vaynerchuk talk about this on his podcast, how there are others like me. Fear not fellow “Nintendon’ts”! It’s not too late. You can change your path. You can reinvent yourself. You can jump on the electronics and computer bandwagon. It won’t be easy, but it’s also not impossible, or even all that hard.
Seriously though, don’t kick yourself forever for missing or passing up on opportunities of the past. Some of those failures in your past are undoubtedly not entirely your fault. Either way, get up off your ass and do something about it. Catch the next wave. They keep coming. And if you don’t get up and at least try to catch the next wave, you’re just gonna keep adding to the very frustrating list of opportunities that pass you by. Bitcoin, anyone? Virtual reality? Podcasting? Youtubing? Audio search?
By the way, this was my 10th article! Woohoo.