Games worth discovering

How a relaxing game motivated me to grow a garden and eat healthier

5K View2023-03-23

For the past few months, I’ve been wanting to change my day-to-day lifestyle. I want to eat much healthier, be proactive, and use my time more efficiently. Although I’m a healthy and somewhat active person right now, I’m still pretty far away from where I want to be. I’ve wanted to do something, but I haven’t gotten the courage or motivation to do it. And to be shamefully honest, I get sidetracked a lot by games and TV shows—so much even, that every time I try to get myself pumped up about being healthier, I lose the motivation in a day and it’s depressing.

It all started when COVID-19 happened in 2020 and everyone was locked inside. I remember spending hundreds of dollars on takeaway food for several months. And when the lockdowns lifted, I still continued buying a buttload of fast food. I found it convenient to order food since I didn’t have to spend time cooking at home. I mean, why would I waste time cooking when I could be playing League of Legends or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive? Well, that logic didn’t turn out well for me a year and a half later. I ended up gaining weight and being the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life. It was a pretty low time for me, and I felt disgusted about my appearance.

This emotional rollercoaster would go on for half a year until the start of 2022. I reached a point in my life where I was fed up with myself making excuses. I decided that if I was going to change, I’d just hit the ground running and keep going no matter what. I wanted to prove to myself that not only could I lose weight and be healthier, but I could accomplish anything that I set my mind to.

(This is my garden when I started growing it)

The first thing I did was empty my entire kitchen of unhealthy food. Yes, that meant I threw away all the chocolate, chips, frozen meals, and ice cream. The second thing I did was exercise, which proved to be the more effective and grueling task of them all. The last thing I did was grow a garden. I’ve always had a green thumb and have enjoyed growing plants, so I thought getting my vegetables or herbs fresh from a garden would motivate me to cook. It did.

After eleven months of blood, sweat, tears, and literally so many kale smoothies I could turn green, I managed to lose twelve kilos of weight. I remember feeling a sense of fulfillment and happiness unlike anything before. Well, that joy was shortly interrupted after I started slacking off in early 2023. I took a break from everything and fell into a pit of gaming and work. I made more excuses and stopped eating healthy and working out. I even gave up on watering my garden and it slowly started dying.

This is where I came across a relaxing game called Garden Story that inspired me to get back up and keep grinding. A few weeks ago, I was looking for a game to pass time. I got tired of losing in League of Legends and had completed the latest Destiny 2 campaign already. I was searching for something wholesome and fun which is when I stumbled upon Garden Story—an action RPG about a group of fruit trying to save their garden from monsters and sickness—which I completely fell in love with.

Garden Story's visuals and character designs were the first thing to catch my eye. I mean, the characters are freakin' adorable! The second thing was the gameplay. I liked Garden Story because it had activities that taught me more about gardening, fruit, and recycling materials to make stuff. For example, I could find seeds and harvest plants and even recycle glass bottles for money.

Even after playing for nine hours, I’m still learning new things here and there by simply playing the game. Garden Story has actually got me interested in planting plums and different sorts of stone fruit. It also made me realize that gardening could be a form of exercise I could do too, which made me very excited when I thought of it. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention that I finally watered my plants because of Garden Story too.

(This is my garden now and it’s trying to stay alive. Ignore the dead plants below.)

Garden Story is a great action RPG that’s better than a lot of games out there, but it’s nothing revolutionary or out of this world—and that’s alright. It’s not about the game itself and if it was, Garden Story is still freakin’ amazing and worth a try. I mean, there are adorable characters, story-driven quests that are super wholesome, and a buttload of monster slaying to keep anyone satisfied. But it’s more of the fact that Garden Story has gotten me to realize a lot of things during such a relaxing and fun experience that makes the game so special. Garden Story has motivated me to eat healthier and continue growing my garden.

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