Easily the most effective for me has been to develop, review, and/or do one action item off a plan to be able to leave the job and work towards something I want to spend my time working on. Knowing I have a plan, remembering it and seeing that it’s a good plan, and taking steps on that is a concrete reminder that the job I hate is temporary and I’m not stuck. That reduces the scaries significantly for me.

Then I also like to clean my place, light a scented candle, and read/watch something to make where I live feel cozy, comforting, and home-y. A reminder that even though the job is shit, I have at least built a home that I come back to. Might call a friend and talk it out too - works on both levels.

What do you do?

Boring to whom?

It’s heavily inspired by Chrono Trigger…heavily. It’s got dual-techs, the writing feels very similar at times, the equipment has predictable scaling as the story progresses, and lots more. The dialog is a bit saccharine for my taste; I’ve far preferred Chrono Trigger’s. Chrono Trigger has pleasant and supportive characters, but it hasn’t ever felt over the top. Sea of Stars also has some modern niceties, like timed presses for defense and offense, some interesting spell-boosting mechanics, it’s very pretty at times, etc. And it plays on jrpg tropes at times in a fun way, and didn’t feel like it overstayed its welcome. Since you love Chrono Trigger, my best guess is that I think you’d have fun with Sea of Stars. It won’t blow your mind by any means, but I don’t think you’d regret spending time with it.

I’ve started and stopped it a number of times over the past 20 years or so, and I’m finally playing it all the way through right now. At least one of those times was because I thought I HAD to fight Lavos through the bucket and thought I was expected to grind until I could defeat it lol. This time, I’ve found it really remarkable how tight it is and how well it still holds up today. Even though Sea of Stars came out last year, it feels like Chrono Trigger could have been released alongside it and it would only feel a bit more dated in some respects.

It does serve as a wonderful example of exactly what they are talking about, funny enough.

Yeah, this is why I’ve urged so many people to shop around for a country like they do a job. See what country aligns with your values, with your goals, with benefits, etc. and start working to get there. You don’t have to stay miserable if you feel like your country is not where you want it to be and you’re not the one to help fix it.

I’ve played a few hours of Ender Lilies. It’s a metroidvania where you play a young priestess who is protected by spirits that you equip to attack for you. It’s pretty, has solid music, and the combat so far has been pretty fun and well-balanced for me. Grow the shame pile…

I’m with you except for the therapist one. Ain’t no way the AI we have currently or anything even close to what we have now could be a therapist. The human connection is the #1 most important thing in therapy and being a therapist takes way too much contextual understanding.

Right, but as so many other threads have acknowledged, not everyone is capable of paying a large upfront cost to save them in the long-term. That’s one example of why it’s more expensive to be broke. That’s why I’m responding to these comments - it’s not all ignorance or stupidity; people are broke out here.

Just buying a PC is a high price of entry. It doesn’t have to be a hobby that you’re putting money into frequently.

It’s also the only option if you want to play online with friends and don’t have an expensive PC.