Hub World - Changement

Hub World – Change (March)

Welcome back to Hub World!

This month, at Safe In Our World we have been thinking about change. Change can be a terrifying prospect – of course, nothing stays the same and in essence there are consistent, incremental changes as we progress through life. These are more ‘natural’ changes, that we are generally equipped to process over time. The tougher side of this is when you are directly staring down the barrel of change that’s either there by choice or, sometimes, forced upon us. These changes can also come in quick succession, often without adequate time to process each beat, and your current situation or societal pressures mean that maybe you won’t (or can’t) take the time to do so.

As someone who spent a decade ‘surviving’ and carrying immense burdens of responsibility, it has become overwhelmingly apparent how dangerous it is to not process change – positive, negative, and everything in-between. Without giving yourself the space, it all clogs up the brain-drain until it has no room left to function at its full potential.

As we head towards Easter, a time of new beginnings and new life, try and take some time for you – you don’t have to do anything special to fill that time, but remove external distractions and sit in the moment. If you feel sad, let it be so – let your mind and body process whatever it needs to.

Let’s take a look at how members of the Safe In Our World community feel about change and how they approach it in their daily lives!

Sarah Sorrell

I always used to fear change as it took me out of my comfort zone but I have learnt to stop worrying about it, try to be open to it and see it as a positive. Especially in a work related situation it may be an opportunity to learn a new skill or meet new people which can be very rewarding. I’ve found the more prepared and willing I am to just go with it, the less stressed I feel. And let’s face it, life would be pretty dull without any changes or new opportunities right?

Rosie Taylor

The most important thing I have learned to come to terms with when big changes come around, is that there’s no “right” way to react to it. Whilst there are healthier ways to cope than others, punishing yourself won’t change anything; it’ll just make you feel guilty. My best advice would be to make small changes each day to improve even just one thing, to see change in a positive light and go with the flow rather than fight against it. Celebrate the small victories, write them down, remember them and most importantly: share them with each other and celebrate each other. Lifting each other up even in the smallest of ways could not be more important right now.

Jake Smith 

I found that over the pandemic I was gaming socially with old friends again, life got so hectic that it was always hard to meet each other at times we were all home and able to play. I found myself connecting with old friends and making new ones along the way while managing to somehow break every game I get into, especially Red Dead Online, The Forest and Valheim. I believe that many wonderful memories have been created from these absolutely hilarious moments that I will never forget. Gaming has been a very good anchor over these very uncertain times and I feel I owe it a lot.

Amber Elphick

With running events for our gaming community, Switch Players Norwich, we had to change and adapt the way we entertain and communicate with our members. We had to go from doing regular, social, in person events to solely focusing on online. 

Thankfully our community has embraced the change, and even though we haven’t held an in person event in over a year, our online events are still thriving and our community has grown and flourished. We found that people were grateful that there was still a way to enjoy gaming together and that they didn’t feel isolated during the pandemic.

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Emma Withington is a freelance writer and PR account executive at Bastion who has worked on campaigns for a variety of titles, including Control and Final Fantasy XIV: Online.

She is currently spending time focusing on the wider community and how she can help others through her personal journey with mental health.

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