With this post, I am starting a new blog category, “A Life Gamer’s Chronicles.” In it, I will share my newest experiences, modifications to my real-life or reality games, and plans for the future. I hope to post these chronicles once a month.
I got the idea for the category when I thought of the reports we write to our supervisors or customers, summarizing what has been done since the previous report and what we plan to do until the next one. I hope it will give you insight into a life gamer’s day and give you ideas for your reality games.
I hope to keep these posts as short as possible so I won’t summarize my entire life-gaming journey here, which has been ongoing for almost eleven years.
But here is how my self-motivational game plans changed in January 2025.
In the past few months, I’ve been struggling with pain in my left knee and hip, and my doctor reminded me of osteoarthritis, which I had in my left shoulder a couple of years ago. After exercising for several years at least a little every day, thanks to self-gamification, I forgot about those pains and that I had a predisposition to osteoarthritis due to heredity. After gaining weight, I started exercising more and discovered hopping for myself. But that was not a very wise practice, which led to severe pains in the left knee and hip, significantly when rising from a sitting or lying position after prolonged periods of sitting or lying down.
So, I started educating myself on the problem and found a great book (Arthritis Reversed: Groundbreaking 30-Day Arthritis Relief Action Plan by Mark V. Wiley). Still, I lacked the motivation to read it and follow its advice consistently. So, I invented the Reading For Health Game (abbreviated RFHG), where I draw a segment for a five-pointed star each time I read something in this book (see the little star below the abbreviation RFHG in the photograph above).
I usually also cycle using the cycle-like pedals while sitting in a chair and reading this and other books. So, I get rewards for reading and my Fitness Game (FG). Cycling is also great for my knees and hips. When the star is completed, I can record my streak. Not trying to read a lot at once and reading five times in small bits (one or a couple of pages at a time) is a great way to assimilate information and not overwhelm myself with many aspects of the lifestyle I need to change. Only a couple of weeks into this game and adjusting my fitness and health games, I feel the improvement, however small, but still consistently present. Slowly decreasing weight is an encouragement, too.
I also bought a book with chair yoga exercises and have practiced them with a couple of others for about one week. I love them. Of course, this book also sets out a little counter for the Y28 game, which stands for the Yoga 28 days challenge, that is set out by this book. The book is in German, but here is its title and author’s name if you want to check it out: Stuhl-Yoga zum Abnehmen: Die Komplette 28-Tage-Herausforderung zum effektiven Abnehmen von Bauchfett mit den besten Übungen im Sitzen in nur 10 Minuten pro Tag | Entwickelt für Anfänger & Senioren, by Christian Walton.
So, the changes in my game plans in January mainly consisted of adjusting my health games, including the scoring in my Fitness Game (FG). In addition to the fitness and health-related games, I also added another reading game. I called it the Other Books Game (OBG). I did have a game with the same title and intention in the past, but I gave it up at some point. As in the past, the goal is to progress with reading books other than only by my all-time favoring author, Nora Roberts, whose books I read every day, often more than just a little, and since almost 1330 days in a row. I brought this game (OBG) back because I wanted to read something else every day besides the book on arthritis when I read something other than the book by my favorite author. The little open-book badge I draw for myself indicates on one page P for reading a paperback and E for reading an e-book, both other than a book by Nora Roberts or the one I read during the Read For Health Game (RFHG). So here are my OBG books right now:
- The paperback is Chicken Soup for the Soul: Boost Your Brain Power!: You Can Improve and Energize Your Brain at Any Age by Dr. Marie Pasinski and Liz Neporent
- The e-book is Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Living Well Longer
by Dick Van Dyke
You will recognize that both relate to health, but that was not the primary goal. I just wanted to read them now, a little every day.
For the next month, I plan to continue playing my reality games, both those I record points for in my little scorebook, or, as I call it, the Points and Badges Game Book, and those I don’t record any score about, like my consultancy work, and discover what new developments I will make in my games and also in my health and lifestyle.
I wish you a fun and gameful month of February 2025.
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Share your real-life game designs, get feedback, and design new ones
If you would like me to review your real-life game plans and give you my feedback or help you develop some, I invite you to book Self-Gamification Coaching with me via live coaching or e-mail exchange. For more details, follow this link.