Wasting Time On Minecraft

I play Minecraft. You know, that game with the blocks and stuff. It has a ton of blocks that I can play with, and I like that a lot. Maybe a bit too much. It's like a virtual lego, only that you can do more with it. The past few days I've started playing it again, and it really is sucking up all my time and makes me spend time on it that I really should be spending on stuff like my D&D dungeon, school, playing on musical instruments, blogging, hanging with friends, etc. And even though I feel like I'm doing a lot, I really am just wasting my time, putting virtual blocks on top of each other, making virtual farms with virtual animals, making virtual furniture to put in virtual houses, and making virtual weapons to kill virtual monsters with.

Like this guy. Only without the fancy hat.

I know I should be doing other things, but I just can't stop! I started building a small hut, which i used as a shelter to dig for materials for more tools, which i used to make a wooden wall, which protected my plot from mobs (since i put torches in it that prevent them from spawning), which allowed me to build houses in my area, that needed space, forcing me to expand my plot, etc, etc. I just can't stop playing the game, because I never feel like I'm done. As of now, I've leveled mountains to keep it all the ground the same height, I've made a huge river flowing through my plot (now a kingdom), I've got both animal and plant farms, a community gathering hall, a storage house, a relatively big mine, etc. I just can't stop. I want to work and do other things but Minecraft won't let me.

And it has interferred with my blogging to the amount that I simply stopped. If I hadn't remembered the blogging rule of thumb I'm using (at least blog once every 3 days) I wouldn't have typed in and published any of this! I had a plan about keeping blogging at a steady pace for 1 month, before going all commercial and ''read my blog guys, it's TEH BESTEREST!'' but I couldn't uphold my rule of thumb for 1 week, and it really seems like I can't keep so many balls in the air as I'm doing.

As of now, I'm able to keep throwing and catching, but I'm worrying about all the exams and tests that are upcoming, as it's nearing the end of the year. Every teacher has learned me a ton of things they want to test me in, and they all want me to do my best, but all the tests and papers to turn in are really keeping a leash on how much spare time I got. At the current time, I stay at school until 7 o'clock, that's 5 1/2 hours after school usually quits, every single day, just to keep throwing the balls in the air, and when I get home, lukewarm rests of dinner await me, along with a troubled father, worrying about what I'm out doing every day, and two annoyed brothers, wanting me to do my part in the household.

But that's the life that I've chosen. I have even compromised my social life, and I barely hang with friends outside school, but I know it's the choice I've made. I got so many things I want to do, and so few hours in a day, and I really want to succeed in all the things i pick up, and add to the juggling pile. Recently I picked up a ball I dropped a while ago, Minecraft, and felt like juggling with it again. The problem is that minecraft is a game, meant to waste my time, and it does just that. It wastes my time.

Pictured: ''Productivity''

But even though it wastes my time, I know that it's a way to stress down, and I really need that at the moment. I've had a lot of schoolwork, hobbies that needed attending, abilities that needed to be kept warm, a sick father and younger brother, a messy house that needs cleaning, and some other things that have just kept stressing me out. In a way, Minecraft is doing a lot more good than many of my other hobbies are. The stressing down is great, because I've felt signs of heavy stress lately, that have subcounsciously bothered me a ton, causing me to almost snap at my friends for things that are a part of who they are.

And that's part of the reason why I'm going to keep playing Minecraft (and other games like it). To keep me from stressing out too much and snapping at people who aren't really related to why I'm so stressed, even if it takes time that should be used on other things. It's great to have something to do that keeps me stressed down, and if it wastes some of my time, so be it. I'm 17 and got my whole life ahead of me, I've got decades before it's too late for me to live my life.