Hey y’all! It’s summer as you well know (kinda hard to ignore this heat), so there are lots of sales going on for video games, especially on Steam. I picked up Spiritfarer in one such sale and I’ve fallen madly in love with it. It’s an interesting concept that has a lot of useful lessons for us as we go through life. So pull up a chair and let’s talk Spiritfarer.
What is Spiritfarer?
Before we dive into the lessons to learn from this game, here’s a quick rundown of the premise: Spiritfarer is a game about the afterlife. Stella and her cat Daffodil, pictured above, replace Charon in delivering souls to the afterlife. To this end, Stella is granted the Everlight, a magical infinite source of power that allows Stella to basically do anything. With this in tow, she traverses the spirit realm, finding and providing passage to spirits that are looking to enter the Everdoor, a gateway to the afterlife.
Finding the spirits can be a bit of a challenge sometimes since they’re all over the place. But each one that boards the ship is incredibly unique, from design to personality to the food they like. This leads us to the first lesson I learned from this game.
Everything has a beginning
Every meaningful journey has a starting point. And we see that whenever we pick up a new spirit, that has different wants and needs, and gets to know Stella in a different way. But that’s how all of our lives are as well. We begin new relationships, jobs, living experiences, etc. and we have to learn how to navigate the novel facets of our existence. The only constant in life is change, so we spend quite a bit of our time in these different phases of existence.
That’s one thing that I appreciate about Spiritfarer: it reminds us that there is always more on the horizon. More people to meet, more places to see, more things to do. There are plenty of amazing things out there in the world that show us how wonderful life is. And I feel like we would do well to keep that mindset in our day-to-day lives as well.
It pays to reflect and revisit
There are a lot of things to do in Spiritfarer. Tons of islands throughout the realm offer resources, quests, spirits to ferry, and more. But some areas are blocked by missing specific upgrades that you get later in the game. So backtracking and revisiting places is crucial for picking up some of the most important items, quests, etc. in the game. But in real life, there are plenty of opportunities for that as well. For me, I’ve found that that’s happened the most with food. I periodically try foods that I didn’t like as a kid. Some of them I still hate, some I can tolerate, and some I really enjoy. I’ve had some of the same experiences with music and other hobbies. Sometimes revisiting things with a new perspective can lead to profound results.
When traveling between islands, there sometimes can be quite a bit of downtime. And it’s in lulls such as these when the mind starts to churn, ponder, explore, and wonder. Maybe we need to reorganize the ship so rooms are easier to reach, talk to one of the spirits about their lives, or just chill out and fish. Either way, peace and quiet are used to prep for the other actions in the game. We also need to make space for this in real life. We tend to be so busy that sometimes we don’t give ourselves time to stop and think. A life spent in a state of reactivity rather than proactivity can be incredibly miserable. This is why we need to do better about taking time to reflect, journal, meditate, or otherwise just give ourselves a moment of space.
Time management is important
Even though there is plenty of downtime, sometimes it can feel like there isn’t enough time in the day (Spiritfarer has day/night cycles, and certain actions can only be performed at certain times of day). So most of the game is about time management. Tending crops, feeding spirits, and fishing all take time. Plus, there are activities to do at each island. Travel takes time as well, so figuring out how to do things correctly is important.
We experience the same thing in our lives. Things can get really hectic, so being efficient is important. But incidentally, in life and in Spiritfarer, time isn’t really the issue. It comes down to priorities. And in essence, priority management is more important than time management. Once we sort out our priorities, the time allotted to them generally falls into place, barring extenuating circumstances. One of my favorite examples is Bobby Maximus’ time audit. It’s a technique that he uses to show people that generally they have enough time to work out, but that their priorities are skewed. And misplaced or misvalued priorities tend to be what trip us up as well. That’s part of where reflection comes in: it gives us a chance to figure out for ourselves what really matters to us and to act accordingly.
Everything has an end
Anything that starts must finish. I had a roommate in college who had a tattoo across his stomach that said “All Men Die” as a reminder that everything in life is finite. Spiritfarer realizes this well. The entire game is built around the concepts of death and impermanence. Every trip to the Everdoor is an experience. The first time I took someone, I cried. Like, ugly cried. We’re talking elephant tears. And especially when it comes to the finality of death, it hurts knowing we’ll never see someone again. I know I personally regret not truly valuing the presence of some people in my life until they were gone. I think about the time I could’ve spent differently, questions I could’ve asked, the advice I’ll never get, and memories that’ll never be made. It’s crazy to me that we never know when the last time we see someone is going to be, or even consider what our last interaction with that person was like.
But even though people die, relationships end, and we retire from careers, we always have the memories and the lessons we learned. We can use these endings to create new beginnings to carry us towards the future. Just because something ends doesn’t mean that the universe stops turning. We just have to pivot and roll with the punches. And if it’s our time, then let us go gracefully, knowing that we did something to better ourselves and the world.
There’s a popular exercise where you write an obituary for yourself. As a society, we tend to hide from and ignore death. But thinking about your obituary, i.e. how you want to be remembered, can be a sobering and grounding experience for recognizing how you want to live. It can help orient around your values and priorities as discussed above. Because at the end of the day, we should try to live the best lives we can in the short time that we have. Life is hard, and that goal can be difficult. But there is so much opportunity out there in the world for love and happiness. We just need to step in and embrace it.
I want to thank you for talking humans with me today. Have you played Spiritfarer? Let me know in the comments below (and if you haven’t, you should :D). Please, share this with someone you think will get something out of it. And don’t forget to talk humans with someone this week. Until next time, peace!