There are so many worlds to explore

Don’t forget to take care of yourself and have fun

“Everywhere I look, I see worlds.” Made with Bing Image Creator.

In December, I was faced with a problem I had never acknowledged before: I had a lot of time on my hands. I had started my Christmas vacation, finished some personal work, and flown home to be with family. But I had so many days before Christmas, and so little to do.

Naturally, I started playing video games.

And there are so many video games to play! Games where you’re shrunk to the size of an ant, games where you’re a super soldier on another planet, games where you can build anything you can imagine, games where you fight, where you socialize, where you solve puzzles, plan, race, explore, adventure, discover…

There is a whole world of video games. You could spend the rest of your life playing awesome video games and never run out of content. Not even close. When I shared this with my brother, his answer shocked me more than it should have:

“Yeah, I’ve thought the same about music.”

And I think we’ve all thought the same about books. Or YouTube videos. Or current events. Or history. Or, or, or…

The list goes on and on and on. An endless list of endless worlds.

Even that is just the beginning. Because all the worlds above focus on existence within that world — levelling up a character, curating a playlist, reading articles that have already been written.

The creative side of the coin is equally fascinating: coding, composing, writing. Not to mention educating, sharing, discussing, planning…

And these two types of worlds blend: writing a video game guide, sharing your playlist with others, publishing an article inspired by countless others, finding inspiration in anything we might experience — each part is a whole world, each world a part of the world we all share.

Wherever I’ve looked for the past four months, I’ve seen worlds. The world of studying the Trump administration and his legacy — endless. The same can be said for any president or person. The world of Minecraft — endless: building, combat, modding, exploring. Same for many video games. The world of altruism — endless: charities, causes, awareness, policies, programs. Same for political initiatives, hobbies, the arts, and more. Everywhere I look I see a profound world that I can explore, engage with, learn from, support, and be a part of. Everywhere I look, I see overwhelming opportunity.

And it makes me anxious.

I want to be a part of so many of these worlds. I want to build Minecraft mods and write articles about AI and curate a playlist and exercise enough to have a sick bod and socialize with caring friends and support important charities and know what’s going on in the world.

But I also need to shower and work and cook decently healthy food and manage doctor appointments and help people and, and, and…

And often I’m just too tired to explore.

Even with no social media presence, I often feel like I’m missing out. “The world is passing me by,” I’ll think, “and I don’t even know where to start catching up.” I’ll have some ideas about how to get started in each world, but I never know which world to start with. Recently, I’ve adopted a few heuristics:

1. If I don’t know where to start, I’ll follow my passion.
2. If I don’t have passion right now, I’ll make sure I’ve taken care of myself.
3. If I’m physically fine but mentally anxious, I’ll explore the world I’m most anxious about.

Side note: So far, I’ve lumped “play video games” in with “reduce social inequity” as though both are completely optional and you should explore whichever one you like. But I actively included “help people” in my personal upkeep work, and I meant it in the broadest sense. As a Catholic, I strongly believe in a tithing of time, talent, and treasure. We should all set aside some of what we have to help make the world a better place. I like to think this blog helps reduce the social inequity of knowledge around AI and anxiety around self-actualization, but maybe I’m doing a terrible job.

Anyway, right now I’m most anxious about the world of contributing to the real world, so let’s explore a bit more!

I have to keep reminding myself that I won’t be able to fully explore each world. I won’t even be able to fully explore a single world. In a sense, the world of worlds will always be “passing me by,” but the world wasn’t made for just me! There are billions of us here — billions!— and if there was only enough stuff for one person to fully understand, that’d be quite the boring world.

So I’ve turned the tables: The world will always be presenting me new opportunities. I won’t be able to explore them all, but if I miss one, another will come tomorrow. Not all opportunities are created equal, of course, but that only helps me prioritize.

There is no value in rushing. If I’m rushing, I’m not mentally present during my exploration, and then what the heck am I even doing? So I’ll take the time to take care of myself first. Otherwise this exploration business is really no fun at all.

Of course, this is all much easier said than done.

Fortunately, I don’t have to “do” all of this at once. In fact, I have no obligation to explore the world of Minecraft modding or playlist curating or even sick-bod-building. I do feel some moral obligation to some worlds because I think it’s a terrible shame that so many young children are dying preventable deaths. But I’m not a utilitarian. I remember the advice I’ve been given by multiple wise women (my mom and my therapist): “We’re human beings, not human doings.” I can rest. I can hang out. Tithing means 10%, not 100%.

The world might pass me by for a bit, but the other eight billion folks here can manage while I take a vacation. I’ll be back next week to explore the world of generative AI with you.

Thank you for reading. What do you want to learn next? How can I help? Let me know in the comments! 🤓

You can start exploring the world of AI with me here:

Let’s learn about artificial intelligence

Updated May 6 to add my signature nerd face emoji 🤓