Personal goals and reality check.

This is mostly for myself, but maybe someone can benefit. I am writing this over the course of a few days. My account is very old. Almost 19 years as of this date. I left at one point probably a year or two after joining. At that time there were beggars and scammers lurking and it was tiresome. Also, real life with teenagers became more demanding. I can't remember exactly when I left. I sold things cheap and donated to Pot of Gold and emptied out all MP thinking I would never come back.

Fast forward to Dec 2023. I still had my email. I signed back in. I loved all of the changes and upgrades around the site, and the general feeling and atmosphere around the site. Thanks to Ian, the staff, and the moderators for all you do.

I basically returned as a newbie. I had no goals met. Nothing in the bank. I had absolutely nothing compared to all of the old timers. I soon realized that I was in a massive mental game of catchup. I was hooked into collecting any item I could and trying to level up on goals. I had a nice sized shop and gallery left from before. Even though they were empty, I had something to work with. I started stocking from the stores and slowly building mps.

All went fairly smoothly until Decadal time hit. I knew this was a rare opportunity and I bought AU to get the decades makers. I was happy and soon realized the AU was a quick way to catch up on missing items...buying the map pieces and treasure chests and anything retired.

Now in the last week or so I have been scrounging to gather Halloween items. I was adding anything missing to my wishlist and spending all kinds of AU on the Halloween chests and the random retired wardrobe costumes. My wishlist kept growing and growing and it was overwhelming. I felt like a failure at the game.

So. Reality check set it. I erased everything from the wishlist that wasn't either a current need, want , or in the family of items I was trading. (getting all of the Halloween Snowman items, or the last of the wardrobe costumes for example). I set myself on a monthly AU budget and gave myself permission for a fresh start.

I did some figuring on how far I actually have come in 10 months. I am now a level 52 player.....Go Me!!!! I started 10 months ago at level 1. I figured some random stats and item progress (see other blog). I am not comparing mp, rp, or BP progress since right now my goals are more item related. A form of hoarding, I guess, Ha Ha. I am at a general 22.3% done with some goals and collections. Wow. Ten months time. I guess if you spread it out percentage wise, that is like 4.5 years completed in ten months. That is some progress. I will periodically check my progress when I feel overwhelmed, when I am spending too much time on here, feel the need to acquire too many items too quickly, or the need to hit the AU.

No one will ever be 100% finished with the game, with all the new features that are constantly being released. I can compare myself to the old timers who never left. They have 15 years more play time and gathering under their belts. Comparison to others is a killer. I need to remember the whole purpose of the game is to relax. I don't need to be on here nonstop trying to get the next item or goal. I know this is a nice distraction from my health issues and things going on in my own world, but I can't let the game take too much of my time or take me away from my quiet time with God. Waking up and hitting the game before rolling out of bed isn't good.

So, here I am evaluating where I am in the game and in my head. This is my reality check.

Have fun, relax and enjoy the game.