I play a game called June’s Journey on my iPad. It’s an online hidden object game that increases in difficulty and leads to clues that earn coins and building materials. The coins and materials are are used to decorate the island which earns flowers and the flowers lead to higher levels. Each scene starts off easy with a very simple scene and gets progressively harder as the 5 stars are earned, which opens the next level. It’s pretty mind-numbing and it’s an efficient way to waste the battery life.

The quickest way to earn flowers is to decorate with big ticket items. The problem is that I hate cluttering up my imaginary private island.

That said, I’ve noticed, while playing the basic game, my stress and anxiety increases as the difficulty increases. Not because it’s getting harder, but because the game adds more and more items to the scene. Presumably, this is to make it harder to find the items but the cartoon clutter gives me immeasurable stress. I’m a very organized person so it is not a stretch that the messy cyber room on my screen drives me a little wonky.

It’s strange, and very telling, that my real life stressors can translate into the cyber world but it does in a very real way. I’m not saying it’s rational by any means. In fact, I know it’s not.

Hubby thinks that I am organized because my mind is so cluttered. He has a point. I asked him if it’s quiet inside his head because I don’t understand that. The chatter never stops (NOT in a Sybil sort of way). He described his thoughts as very linear, with one finishing before the next one starts. Mine overlap, zigzag, and collide. He also thinks that I’m organized because it’s my way of controlling my world. I’ll let that one slide because it’s veering very close to an insult. Although, again, he may have a point. My mind doesn’t rest so I find solace in a calm and organized living space.

I am constantly trying to clear countertops and put things in their assigned spot. At the end of the day, I expect everything to be where it belongs. So, it comes as no surprise that I have an overwhelming urge to tidy up the cartoon mess.

This scene just about gave me a heart attack:

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