Let’s take a step back and look at the bigger picture for a second. So far, I’ve only focused on what individual lessons we can take from each anime or video game, but that doesn’t mean every one has to have a lesson.

If I could sum up my relationship with anime and video games in one word, it’d be ‘healing’. It’s a lifestyle. Countless times I’ve laughed, cried, loved and learned this year from them. They’re an escape from reality and although escaping doesn’t always solve the root issue, it at least puts you in a mindset to better deal with things.

Here’s a review of the best games and animes that helped me through this year. (in case you were looking for any recs)

• A Place Further Than the Universe helped me through my heartbreak
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons provided an easy way to bond with all of my friends when the pandemic first hit
• Orange helped me feel comfortable opening up more about the things I deal with
• Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma inspired me to pick myself up after failing
• Persona 5 showed me the importance of friendships.

TWENTY TWENTY ONE. What will you throw in our faces?

While talking to my therapist near the end of the year, I had an epiphany. Every year I always reflect about how 20xx was horrible and how everything will be better in 20xx+1—as if all my burnout, sleep deprivation, health issues, depression, anxiety, loneliness and stress will just MAGICALLY disappear on January 1st. Here’s my take on things.

If there’s something I learned the hard way in 2020, it’s that only you can fix your own problems. I wrote a post a while back about leaning on your friends. Still valid, but your friends can’t solve your problems for you. In the end, it’s really on you. Shit happens. Life is unfair. 2021 is DEFINITELY going to throw something crazy at us, whether it affects everyone, or just you. But it’s on each of us to make something of it. As my brother once told me, “life IS unfair, but the point of life is to make it fair”. Wise words from someone 5 years younger than me. Sometimes I wonder who the older sibling is.

We all make New Year Resolutions because ‘new year new me woohoo’, but let’s be real. Everybody knows those are designed to be dropped; new year resolutions are a joke. CREATE ACTIONABLE GOALS. Make a game plan. Stick to it. Baby steps. A year is only amazing if you make it so! Yes, easier said than done. And I don’t mean that you have to achieve ‘XYZ’ in 2021. Being able to handle bad news and unforeseen events well plays a huge role in making a year amazing, with regards to your mental health. Plus it helps increase your EQ, which is highly undervalued. Win-win!

So as we finish 2020, the end of this decade, I ask you this question; what does anime and gaming mean to you?