This has helped bring down possibilities of spreading the COVID-19 virus further. However, because we are advised not to go outside unless there’s a very valid reason, most of us are eventually bored to death at home. We keep seeing the same things, and we get tired easily because of routines and monotony.
The problem with people working from home is that they might eventually think that they’re like prisoners because there’s a feeling of restricted activities when you’re at home. Some become anxious, and sometimes people fall into depression because of the lack of social contact and ways to destress.
During pre-COVID days, gaming at work, even during break time was frowned upon and considered unprofessional. However, because of the new normal, gaming is considered the best and most efficient way to destress as we don’t need special equipment to play games. We can use our smartphones, tablets, laptops, computers for instant gaming whenever we feel the need to relax and destress.
And for weekend gaming time, we can play board games, physical games in our backyard, or gaming consoles that elevate our gaming experiences. You can find the best console games in an article made by Gamesradar.com, such as PUBG, GTA online, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Call of Duty: Warzone, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Final Fantasy 14, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Fortnite, Minecraft, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, Among Us, and of course, my personal favorite, Monster Hunter World!
In an article released by BBC.com, entitled, “Can gaming at work makes you more productive?”, it was mentioned there that rather than being viewed as “slacking off”, gaming gives people a way to unwind and gives workers a chance to use passive thinking time to solve work-related problems. This is because long hours of work can affect a person’s brain, making it difficult to focus on the work at hand. Gaming makes people less anxious and makes them relax and motivated enough to follow through with work.
According to that article by BBC, working for a long period of time makes people bored and unproductive. Gaming gives people an edge by providing a virtual confidence boost that they need to have the energy and willpower to get through boring work.
However, gaming time should be strategic and gaming during workdays should involve short-term games or games that don’t require us to save our progress for a long period of time because games can often be too addictive. So when destressing during workdays, it’s best to select games that help people relax, it shouldn’t be too challenging, nor should it take too much of your time.
Finding short games online and on your phones can be a challenge because most games online require purchases, which are often referred to as “PAY TO PLAY” games. These are the types of games that won’t let you enjoy all the aspects of the game if you don’t make purchases of in-game gold or in-game tokens, armors, treasures, and objects.
Some games even have viruses when you download them! YIKES! So I suggest that you be careful when you’re selecting games to play to alleviate your boredom at home.
If you want some suggestions as to which short games to play when you’re bored at home, then look at my list of favorite online short games below.
My favorite and go-to SHORT games when trying to destress are:
- Among Us – It uses tactics and I can stop myself when my alarm rings. Why? because the enjoyment is per game and not in terms of progress. You can download the Android version here and the Apple version here. Don’t download from other sites and just use your phone to play to avoid viruses and malware.
- Sum Among Us – The characters were based on the Among Us game but it is of a different nature, kind of like Sodoku with cuteness added to it. It’s perfect as a mind or puzzle game because not only are you playing, you’re also honing your analysis and problem-solving skills. Basically, all you need to do is play a game similar to the boat is sinking, except the value/quantity of each color should correspond to the numbers stated above. To be honest, at first, it was very easy so I thought it was a little corny because it’s just basically adding things up, but when you go to the higher levels, you start to appreciate your problem-solving skills. lol.
- Among Rescue game – Remember the rescue game ad that keeps popping on Facebook but when you click on it, it turns out to be a different game? Well, this game is legit. It’s a rescue game that’s a very relaxing plus, it shows our favorite Among Us characters. It’s fun when the impostor gets to you because he uses the original Among Us way of killing you. It may be intended for kids though since the level of difficulty is quite low, but I still enjoyed it and I found it really relaxing. As of the moment, it’s just until level 30, hopefully, the developers would include more stages and levels.
- Adventure Time Break the Worm – No need to download anything, I just went to the website and enjoyed playing the game. I love the simple graphics and the challenging way the game was presented. A tip would be to read the instructions at the bottom of the web page and to use the x+z button to do the aerial attacks early on in the game to save your life bar. You can also do the Dash attack as indicated in the photo below, which is two times the directional button (left or right) plus the z button. Also, using the aerial attack, you can do multiple combos. The combos I’ve seen are “Dang!” for 3-hit combos, “Rhombus!” for 6 hit combos, and “Bombastic!” for 12-hit combos. I’ve got as high as 18 but didn’t notice any new combos so if you’ve gone higher, let me know in the comment section below. Lastly, the first boss penguin, Gunter can be hit when he doesn’t have the red aura and projects only a green aura of confusion. I really thought that the game would be too childish and simple but once you play it, you’ll get hooked. What’s great about it is it’s easy to stop since the number of lives is limited. You can find all the Adventure Time Games here.
- Most notable after Break the worm is Angry Betty, which is very relaxing to play, you just need to hit Angry Betty, avoid the things thrown at you by shooting at them, and replenishing your life by collect hearts. Just don’t forget to count your bullets and know when to reload. Do it strategically and it becomes such a relaxing game to play. kind of like Duck Hunt during the Nintendo personal computer (gaming console) era.
- The other Adventure Time game, Frosty Fight, is more frustrating and maybe the cup of tea of people who love challenges. Honestly, I think many would love Frosty Fight because it will really wake you up because of the adrenaline and excitement you’ll feel while playing it. It makes me tense trying to avoid everyone but it was fun to play and rescue the princesses.
Those are just a few of the games I’m currently playing to reduce my anxiety and stress while working from home. I honestly recommend that you try these games because the graphics are excellent for a short game and the level of difficulties for most of the games I mentioned are just high enough to get your blood pumping and energize you to work more productively.
Aside from games, there are actually other things that you can enjoy doing at home to freshen up and destress.
Forbes.com and ABC Australia mentioned some of the alternative ways to destress at home such as:
- Growing plants at home (in the Philippines, we call plantito for men, and plantita for women) either for nutritional/food or decorative purposes. I personally would go for the nutritional because nothing beats vegetables freshly grown from your own garden.
- Board Games such as Chess and Snakes and Ladders can also help you destress and enjoy family time. Coincidentally, you can play Chess here, and Snakes and Ladders here. In the links I mentioned here, you can play against the computer or with several players, especially for the Snakes and Ladders. I had fun playing this as it reminded me of the Snakes and Ladders game that the cast of the Korean Variety Show Running Man did in one of their most recent episodes this 2021. I missed playing this game and what I love about the online version is I can play with my family as well as go solo and play against the computer faster. lol. 😀
- Bake something delicious and share with your family, or post it online to get more social interactions with your family, friends, and co-workers.
- Learn how to play musical instruments. Before buying musical instruments, make sure to test your compatibility, passion, and enjoyment by checking out how the instrument sounds. You can go on Youtube and even download apps for this. However, instead of downloading, it’s better to just go to a site where you don’t need to downloading anything so it’s safer from viruses, malware, and phishing sites. Incidentally, plays.org has a set of musical games that help you create your own music, make you feel comfortable exploring different musical instruments such as piano, drums, and xylophone. There are even games designed to make learning instruments fun.
- Doing TikTok videos and dancing. This is one of the more popular ways to explore your creativity and have fun online.
- Create art. This can be done manually or you can also do this using apps. One of the most nostalgic types of art is Pixel Art. I’ve been rather fascinated with pixel arts myself.
Here’s a sample of what I did. This is my Pixel Art version of Koya, a koala character from BT21, and counterpart of the Kpop Group, BTS’ RM. For this Pixel art, I used the online PIXEL ART MAKER here because I don’t have to risk downloading anything.
Actually, even during Farmville days (way, way, wayyyyy before when Facebook was just starting), I have been making Pixel arts on my “farm”. Here are samples:
- Zoom and video call loved ones and friends, or even a co-worker, so you can virtually work side-by-side.
- Organize your stuff and have fun experimenting and doing DIY projects.
To be honest, there’s an infinite list of things to do to overcome anxiety and stress from working at home. It all depends on your interest and passion. What really matters is that we stay at home and have more time to bond with our family, as we keep ourselves and our family safe and protected.
How about you, what’s your best way to destress and cope with work-from-home boredom?