I’ve been logging my plays of boardgames with the bgstat app since 29th December 2015.

To date that means I have played 374 games (not all mine!)

But why did I start recording my game plays?

Back in 2015 things were not brilliant at work.

I was being bullied and it made me ill.

I was off work with depression. I was not in a good place.

My line manager was doing nothing about it apart from enabling it.

Luckily I was referred for cognitive behaviour therapy (cbt) and didn’t have to wait months to get my first appointment. Something I’m not so sure would be the case now.

During the treatment I decided I needed a way to try and have an early warning sign that I was becoming ill again.

So I started logging my game plays with the bgstat app.

The logic being if I started to become depressed again then I’d be playing less games (pandemics not accounted for). I’d start to withdraw. My monthly stats were my canary down the mine for my mental health.

My journey to becoming well involved leaving that toxic environment (I quit my job and did a short stint doing supply teaching), as well as doing things I enjoyed (or used to).

Since then logging my game plays has become an addiction. The app itself has grown considerably since those early days. In some ways unrecognisable.

But I love the insights it gives me. Not just in what I’ve played, but into me.

The challenges I’ve started using aren’t just gaming challenges, but also another way to encourage me to do something I enjoy.

And to be totally honest September was never a great month for me with it being the anniversary of Dad’s death. But with the first anniversary of my Nan passing away so close to Dad’s. This year it’s a pretty rough month emotionally.

It’s going to take some Herculean effort to get through this month. And any little trick I can use to get through it like the bgstat app and forcing myself to play games will help.

I don’t know how to end this post. So I’m just going to stop and see you in the next one.