Thursday, November 7th 2019

I've been searching for a while now. Ruminating. Googling. Debating. Summarizing. Trying to find a tangible answer to this modern plague that has swept the globe.

Why do I call it a plague? We've got to start from the top: I believe that humans are individuals, that they should have beliefs they value more than life itself, and that these beliefs should be the reason that they work towards their goals. I'm not just talking about religious beliefs. I'm talking about personal motivating beliefs. Such as: "If I work hard and focus, my ideas can make the world a better place." Or "After I finish this job, I'll be able to enjoy my time with my friends and family." Or even better: "It's all going to be worth the pain I'm going through."

From my experience, life itself is not meant to be pleasurable. At least, that's my experience. For me, time off is fun for about two days, before I start to feel restless and start looking for something to do.

In a normal life, people are driven by long-term goals and short-term goals. Hopefully they are organized enough to write them down, and then prioritize their time and effort to maximize accomplishment. These simple organizational skills might actually be more important than the skills for the task.

But even though we write these goals down, they're not just written on paper, they're written in our hearts. The brain naturally regulates its own mood to make sure these goals are accomplished. We feel exasperated when our goals do not get finished. We feel happy when we do succeed. The best of us often feel strong emotions: Steve Jobs was known to cry.

You thought this thing was made of aluminum, plastic, glass, and silicon? No - it's made of Steve Job's tears.

But sometimes this process doesn't work so well. What if we don't bother to write down our goals? What if we don't believe in working towards anything bigger than ourselves in life? What if we're too pessimistic to try? What if we're too worried to put anything on the line? What if we can't sit still long enough to even organize a single line of thought?

Video games etch new goals in your heart. They perfectly assuage that restless feeling by giving you a problem to solve. They provide simple puzzles to distract your mind from rumination. They give you peace after you finally beat that next level - a genuine mental release. You don't have to be stressed anymore and question everything about your life, because you're a winner. It's the same feeling you would get if you accomplished your real goals, but those were too dangerous or too difficult to try.

Except these new video games don't really end. They just keep giving you new things watch for and click on. And you really weren't supposed to be playing a video game in your 20's, you were supposed to be starting a career, finding a spouse, buying a home, and having kids.

I want you to imagine a new video game - only instead of being an environment displayed on a screen, it's actually a real-life forest. And instead of clicking a mouse to shoot a gun at targets on a screen, you whip your real-life hand to throw a plastic disc hundreds of feet towards a steel basket.

Now, you might be thinking: "How could throwing a stupid plastic disc be more difficult than a video game?". I mean, video games are designed to maximize your cognitive load. How could a plastic disc ever compete with that?

The thing is, there are a lot of muscles in your fingers, forearm, tricep, shoulder, trunk, hips, thighs, calves, and toes, and they all have to be coordinated perfectly in the fraction of a second you throw the disc. Disc golf courses vary in difficulty, from heavily wooded courses to open fields. The wind changes direction, which lifts or lowers your disc several feet instantly. Speaking of your disc - there are hundreds of different discs, designed to be thrown at different speeds, which naturally turn left or right at different stages of each throw. No matter what video game you are playing, it will never come close to the immersive experience of disc golf.

The difficulty is really self-paced. I see people every day who only play with one disc, and only play the front nine holes for fun. And then, I also see groups of 3-5 people who are in a league competing for cash. There are also championships, but I just watch those on youtube. The point is, you can push yourself as hard as you want to.

Normally a right-handed player would aim his driver slightly right of the basket, because at the end of flight, the disc fades to the left. But say the basket is actually hidden behind some trees that are preventing this route. The disc golfer might choose to throw forehand, because the disc spins in the opposite direction - during the high-speed portion of flight, it would turn left, and then fade to the right at the end. This is one simple example of how it's not just about throwing a disc, but also thinking about how to get your disc to fly the way you want it to.

My point is, no matter how much anyone worships a video game because it is difficult and competitive, they should try playing disc golf. Because they'd fall flat on their face until they put in the time.

It's not just about the challenge - although I'll admit that's what keeps me engaged in the sport. There are several characteristics of playing a round that feel really good:

There is something special about walking through a forest. Maybe it's the wildlife. I just feel more relaxed. Maybe it's because I start realizing I'm part of nature. Exercise makes you smarter. I often play 'cardio' rounds, where I take 3-5 discs and run with them in a drawstring bag. I can play 18 holes in about 40 minutes this way, it's about like jogging a 5K. I can focus really well for about 24 hours after I do this. I've noticed improved coordination, balance, and proprioception. Disc golf is like any other active sport: you get better at being smooth. You don't get this from video games (besides being able to click really fast with a mouse). It teaches you patience and emotional regulation. It's essential to take the time to go through your routine before your throw. It's difficult to explain if you haven't experienced it, but you have to have your mental space empty when you throw the disc. Otherwise, your hand won't be coordinated with the rest of your body, and your disc won't go where you want it to. If you have a distraction pop into your head, your timing will be off, and that means you'll be depending on luck instead of skill.

I don't fully understand why. But ever since 2.5 months ago, when I started playing disc golf every day, I stopped feeling so restless all the time, and it became much easier to focus. You might notice that I finally finished the update to the site for the first time in six months. I will admit that sometimes I think about winning disc golf instead of getting things done. But this is a much better alternative than sitting on my butt playing video games.

If you need discs: here is a cheap starter set for $19.95. If you find out you like playing, here is a higher quality set to upgrade to for $41.29. (I highly recommend Innova discs, I personally own every one of those, they're perfect for beginners, and are currently priced competitively.)

Thanks for reading!