I live with a family of gamers. Therefore, I too am a gamer. Video games don’t come naturally to me, but I can get by and have fun. I also like watching my family members play video games from time to time because I love to see the excitement and joy it brings them. I play and watch video games with my family to show them that I appreciate the value and meaning in the games they play. But recently, my husband got me into a game I love to play myself. 

I love Doom!
I mean, I love playing the XBox oneX version of the 2016 reboot of Doom. The first time I ripped off a demon’s arm from it’s socket and used it to pulverize that same demon’s skull into a million bloody pieces, thereby increasing my health meter, I was hooked! The music is epic and the graphics are incredible. Here are all the lessons I’m learning from Doom that are applicable to my life as a parent, musician, and teacher:

1. Chores and projects are like demons coming to reduce your health meter.
2. Slaying demons increases your health meter.
3. Sometimes you don’t have enough energy in your health meter to slay the big demons.
4. Sometimes you have to slay a few lesser demons to build up your health meter so you can take on the bigger demons with full health.
5. When the demons are upon you, keep moving! Never stop moving!
6. You can’t jump to a higher ledge if you’re not looking up!
7. When the pace slows down and the demons are at bay, take time to reorient yourself and enjoy the beauty of the martian surface around you.
8. Take time to search for hidden pathways and find secret treasures like keys and weapons upgrades that can help you slay demons more efficiently.
9. As you advance, the demons get, bigger, uglier, and harder to slay.
10. Sometimes you just want to shoot some random inanimate objects. It doesn’t advance your mission, but it’s entertaining and enables you to practice your aim.
11. As the demons get harder to slay, your weapons become more potent and your health meter lasts longer.
12. When the game ends and the credits roll, you won’t remember all times you died. You’ll think back on the good ol’ times you had slaying all those demons with your mad skills and cool weapons. 

Many thanks to my husband for enabling my discovery of the art of video games. It’s amazing how well concepts and skills used in video games can translate to our everyday life and work. I’m glad my kids get to play so much – they’re learning a lot!