Gaming and my mental health: Finding connection and joy while living with a chronic illness

Topics mentioned: gaming and mental health, Disability and mental health, friendships

About: Eden shares how gaming helps her cope with chronic illness, manage stress, and stay connected with others, especially when she can’t meet people in person.

Growing up, I’ve always been into gaming. From playing games with friends in golden time in primary school to going away to taekwondo competitions and having mini tournaments with my friends on the plane. It has always been something I’ve loved and has brought me a lot of joy and entertainment. Some of my favourite games include Animal Crossing, The Sims and Mario Kart. And I always enjoyed trying out the newest gaming console and watching walkthroughs of the latest games on YouTube. In fact, I still do!

From my own personal experience as someone who lives with a chronic illness, gaming has been so positive for me. It has provided me with distractions from my chronic pain and it can be really helpful and act as a form of escapism from what I’m going through. It’s also allowed me to stay connected with my friends as due to my chronic illness, I’m not always able to meet up in person. But gaming is really accessible and can be done from anywhere, so it’s been a great way to do something fun with my friends even on the harder days.

One particular example of this was when I was struggling with the side-effects of the new medication that I had tried. I didn’t have a lot of energy and was struggling with brain fog and communication, but I was able to distract myself by playing Animal Crossing. This didn’t require a lot of energy or thought, so I could still have fun despite the hard day.

Gaming has also helped me to stay connected with friends through Discord servers or through the Nintendo Switch connect app. One of my best friends who also has a chronic illness is also really into gaming so it gives us something fun to talk about and do together that doesn’t require a lot of energy.

Gaming was particularly important to me during lockdown, as it always improved my mood. I got really into playing Just Dance 2020 on the switch. The lockdown was such a challenging time for a lot of people but being able to dance and listen to the songs brought me a lot of joy. It was also something nice I could do with my family and friends on FaceTime – we used to compete to see who could get the highest score!

Gaming has also really helped me to destress in difficult times. Like when I was doing exams at school or when my dad was having surgery, it always helped me to escape and switch off. One game in particular that brought me a lot of positivity was Animal Crossing as the tasks and different features within the game gave me something else to think about.

Overall, gaming is a really great way to relax, connect with others and most importantly have fun! There is a game out there for everyone no matter what your interests are, so why not have a look the next time you are in a shop that sells games or scrolling on the App Store? You never know, you could find your next favourite!