What I learned about myself from Animal Crossing

A big part of my family’s quarantine has been Animal Crossing. My kids even act out the game in the IRL play.

For those of you not familiar, you do peaceful tasks like plant flowers, pick up shells, and fish to get ‘bells’ (aka money). Well, you can also resell turnips for a profit. The short of it was that we found a way to visit other islands with high turnip prices to make easy money. We have access to millions of bells with very little work.

Guess what? It ruined the game. I used to love making shell wreaths, now selling them for a few K feels meaningless.

In a Nintendo game, I’ve had the experience of being filthy rich — and I hate it. I want to go back to being excited about catching a shark for ten thousand again.

My lesson — appreciate what I’ve got. Often what you are chasing isn’t going to make you happier.