Totally not made up- come see what Eustress is and why it’s the hobby secret ingredient that you need in your life via Pimcron!
Science. It’s the thing we all love. We drink it up, devour it, and it’s the air we breathe. Literally. So this article was originally going to be scientific examples of how studies show the hobby is immensely beneficial for our little skull jellies. In my research, I stumbled on a really neat science thing, something I had never heard of.
Stress is Bad, M’kay?
So apparently there are different types of stress, which at first is kind of “duh”. But there are actually different classifications of them, and they all have different effects on our minds and body. The stress we are all used to are things like chronic stress which comes from a lifetime of soul-crushing monotony and existential crisis.
Or like the worry that I feel when my wife gets close to finding my secretly purchased miniatures. This type of stress is literally a life-shortener and has all sorts of bad effects.
Do you know what’s also a life shortener? Being a Chemdog.
The reason why this stress is a killer is that the things that generate chronic stress are things that deeply impact our lives. The stakes are high and it puts you in constant fight or flight mode. Waiting to hear about a new job, expecting a child, or when my wife starts looking in the pantry cabinets brings us all stress. If any of those situations went south it could greatly harm our lives. Seriously, she needs to quit snooping around like that.
But lucky for us, there is a type of stress that combats that life-or-death stress and it’s found in our hobby.
Wargaming’s Stressful
What I discovered is that there is good stress we can cultivate! It is called Eustress, which helps us live a life of joy and happiness. Eustress is the stress you get over things that don’t have any real bearing on your quality of life. It actually encompasses everything from excitement over a new relationship, down to buying a new model kit. As a species, humans need a challenge, we are designed to strive and push ourselves.
So each time you must carefully assemble a model, tackle an interesting new paint scheme, or agonize over an army list, we are experiencing eustress.
Look at this happy dude, not a care in the world except searchin’ for more dakka.
Even the game itself is stressful to some degree, as there is a win or loss outcome. You can feel mild panic if your models are in a pinch, or from a critical dice roll. But all of these things should not impact your life in any real way. It’s like you are playing pretend, or playing a game on easy mode.
You know deep down that no matter how this game ends, you won’t lose your house, or have a custody battle with your kids over it. That is unless you have a serious betting problem. Not advised. I feel eustress each time my wife discovers the poorly hidden model stashes I planted so she thinks she found my real stuff.
Your Brain is a Puppy
Our brains are conditioned by our existence and environment. Why do you think we often blame our past for our current issues (rightly or wrongly)? So if you only feed your brain chronic stress with high stakes, it will learn to view all challenges as life-or-death. But if your little skull squishy sees that sometimes life is serious, other times it’s just for fun, it has a healthier overall view.
It doesn’t automatically jump to the worst possible scenario when faced with adversity. Perspective is everything, and seeing the grays between the black and white is healthy.
Even terrifying cyborg dogs need love. Or at the very least a software update once in a while.
Literally speaking, anyone can see a difference between dogs who have had a loving home, and ones who haven’t. I won’t go into the sad, sad examples. If you’ve ever known a rescue dog, it takes them a while to figure out that their new home loves them and is safe.
Our hobby is basically like taking our brain to the dog park to run around with its friends and be carefree for a while. It’s no surprise that the social aspect of our hobby brings people together and facilitates us making new friends. Just as important as the eustress, is healthy relationships that are low risk.
Bonus Wisdom
Here’s one last nugget of information for you. A study polled the oldest people in the world and tried to figure out how they lived that long. You would assume that things like diet, exercise, smoking, regional climate, etc would be the biggest key factors. But these people came from all over the world, many of them still smoke, and many of them had very demanding jobs.
They all lived vastly different lives with one exception. Each and every one of them had strong and engaging social support networks of friends and family. That was the only clear and strong correlation between the oldest humans alive.
So go build some models, paint some little people, and enjoy complaining about prices with a friend. All of it is helping to build a better you. Well, maybe a little less complaining and smoking certainly can’t be bad either!
Does this make you feel better about spending all that money?
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