Check it out - we are continuing our gaming and self-care series with the emotional aspect of self care.
Gaming and Self-Care: Emotional
Kailin
What is Emotional Self Care?
Self-care helps regulate our emotions and improve our emotional wellbeing, including decreasing anxiety and depression. So… what is the emotional dimension of self care? Referring back to that same article by Stoewen DL, the emotional dimension includes “Understanding and respecting your feelings, values, and attitudes; appreciating the feelings of others, and managing your emotions in a constructive way” So how does that fit in with gaming?
Games and Emotions
We firmly believe that games are always self care (so much so that it is an entire blog series). So how exactly do games fit specifically with emotional wellbeing? For one, playing games encourages talking to others! Playing games with friends (or even strangers) can lead to a multitude of conversations and small talk. Talking with others can help distract from anxieties, work through issues, and build lasting friendships.
Games and Creativity
Playing games also helps engage a creative side of yourself which in turn helps you to relax. Many board games have an interactive or imaginative side to them. From tabletop war games where you create narratives based on dice to role playing games where you get to create the entire narrative. There are many options for creativity amongst gaming and creativity helps encourage emotional wellbeing.
Games and Stress
Finally, and most importantly, playing games can help you step away from stress, even if for just a short time. Sometimes the best way to balance your emotions is to step away from them all together and enjoy a reset. Gaming helps do this in many different ways. In addition to talking and creativity, just the act of playing games can use enough brain power to distract you from all the other emotions. A number of games utilize strategy or multi-resource tactics that use a decent amount of brain power and help take your mind off other emotions.
Overall, there are a number of ways that gaming help with self care, including emotional wellbeing. So that is reason #2 to play games! Games help regulate emotions and are a good source of stress-relief or distraction. Check back into our blog next week to see what other ways gaming can help your self care - and get more reasons (or excuses) to play games each week!