Obsessions come. Obsessions go. Some obsessions last a lifetime.

Some obsessions take a while to settle in and take root.

Writing and reading are my lifetime obsessions. The way I participate in them come in waves of extreme highs and extreme lows.

The lows never last. These obsessions are integral to my life and mental health. Even when I’m not actively writing, I’m thinking about writing; I turn ideas over in my head, examining them from different angles.

But this post isn’t about that. This post is about Minecraft.

What? How did we go from writing and reading to gaming?

Well, I’ve been gaming since I was four and it began with Duck Hunt and Mario Bros on my Nintendo NES. Now, I want to emphasise this as I am a gamer, not a Gamer. I don’t stream, I mostly play on consoles, and I rarely finish a game in its entirety.

I first bought Minecraft on my Xbox 360 as a way to hang out with a young family member back in the States. I will admit, I didn’t get it. I also didn’t try very hard to get it, which I feel badly about now, but at the time I couldn’t get past my own thought of what the fuck is this game?

Fast-forward more than ten years, and I am obsessed.

A pickaxe here, a pickaxe there. Where the fuck are all the diamonds?!

My son became aware of it through YouTube videos of others playing. PrestonPlayz filled our TV screen at least once a day, sometimes more for about a year, but now other creators have joined us for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. My husband and I remembered we actually owned that game, and they decided to give it a go!

There are only so many times you can play the same Lego Marvel levels after all.

He loved it! - my son and my husband.

YouTube videos changed the way we saw the game, because we could actually see what the game could do. It wasn’t long before we purchased Minecraft for different devices: PC, mobile phone, and tablet.

They had so much fun!

I admit, I was a little jealous. I hadn’t felt excited about a game since before the whole Ubisoft fiasco, when I still enjoyed playing the Assassin’s Creed games, or before Xbox decided not to release the newest of the Batman/Gotham Knights game on Xbox One consoles.

I wanted to join in, so I downloaded it, and you know what? I loved it.

I LOVED IT! Why would I write a post talking about obsessions if I didn’t, right?

The first couple of days, I was too scared to go into a mine. So, I focused on fishing. Y’all, the LOOT I collected from fishing? Unreal.

A legit plethora of enchanted items, and also a plethora of items I didn’t need. But it was fun! My husband would mine, I would fish, and Little Dude would go around harassing villagers, because he’s not about to mine or fish.

But now?

NOW I do all of the things, even fighting off the beasties.

I’m still relatively new to the game, because the kiddo is forever making new worlds and we never get far into the adventure. I know I could play without the kid, but by the time I have a chance to do that I’m a little burnt out.

However, the cosiness of peaceful mode was what I needed in my life when I started. I love that there’s an option that essentially allows me to go, ‘Nah, we’re not fighting today. We’re going to sit here in this boat and fish,’ and I don’t have to touch a single worm.

What are some of your favourite obsessions?