4 children’s games that were my first run in with anxiety
It’s 2020 and all millennials have anxiety.
Who is to blame? Millennials are also a generation that doesn’t take responsibility for things - so I’ve got to point the finger at someone for my anxious state of mind.
Some people think anxiety has risen due to smart phones, or social media - but I know what the real reason is. Jenga, Operation, and other triggering children’s games that first introduced me to anxiety.
Today I want to call these games out for what they were - a gateway game into full-fledged anxiety.
1. Jenga
Let’s get one thing straight - Jenga is anxiety personified.
Jenga brings up triggering memories for me of 9/11 and the entire time Jenga is happening, my hands are sweaty, my heart is in my throat, and my butthole is clenched tighter than a zip tie around a Christmas tree.
I’m not just nervous for my turn of Jenga, I’m nervous for everyone! That’s the horror of the game - you never know when the tower will fall. It’s a never-ending game of anxiety until the blocks tumble down, and I get to stand up (knees shaking) from the table we were playing at. Thank god it’s over.
2. Operation
This game was responsible for both producing anxiety, as well as hypochondriacs around the world.
Before this game, I didn’t think much about hospitals, or death, or how common malpractice at a hospital could be responsible for ending my time here on earth. Let me tell you, since playing this game as a child all of that has changed.
This game was a bit ironic, too, because the anxiety it caused would make my hand shake, so I would mess the game up, which would lead to more anxiety, and hence more hand shaking…it really was the Sophie’s Choice of children’s board games.
3. Manhunt
What really gets the anxiety pumping through my bloodstream with this game is the name of it. Manhunt. We are hunting men. (First of all - triggering. Why can’t we hunt women?? Why can’t we hunt they/thems??)
But it’s also triggering because what used to be a friendly game of tag is now a hunting match. I suddenly feel like a clay pigeon with clammy hands and pit stains and I spend the entire night hiding in a tree because I’m too scared to come down. Even when Brad’s mom brings up cupcakes and everyone sings “happy birthday” to him, I’m still in the tree - terrified!
4. Hangman
Similar to Manhunt, this game produced a lot of anxiety because there was a hypothetical life on the line. Sure, it was a stick figure. But that stick figure represented life and I had to guess the correct letters in order to save his little graphite life.
This game would start off as fun until more limbs were drawn on, and then suddenly I would forget that vowels exist and Mr. Stick Figure would be brutally murdered right before my elementary school eyes. Trauma!!
Let me know in the comments below if you have also been triggered by any childhood games! Or, hell, if any adult games have triggered you I’d like to hear about it too. Maybe Settler’s of Catan is a lot more anxiety-producing than some would think.
Until the next one,
S