Candy Crushed: Blowing my paycheck on virtual candy in exchange for a stress-free week
ebonywashington7
Jun 16, 20224 min read
Updated: Jun 23, 2022
By Ebony Washington
I’m the person who will blow a paycheck the moment it hits my bank account at 4 in the morning. Whether it be on bills, or buying things I completely do not need, I find a way to spend money. Why? Because it feels so damn good. Most people spend their money on things they really want, like that gorgeous blouse seen in a magazine or those over-priced heels seen at the mall in the storefront window. But me? I spend my money on things I know I don’t need (or really want), like virtual candy.
At a time in my life, when I packed on a significant amount of weight (to the point where people actually noticed) due to the stress of my quarter-life crisis, I devoted hours and hours of my life to a very addictive game known as Candy Crush. Candy Crush wasn’t just a game for me, it was an escape from my problems. Rather than addressing those issues, I would prop my feet up on the couch, kick off my shoes, crank up the volume on my smart phone, and submerge myself into this magical candy world, that has hundreds of levels with new territories waiting to be discovered. I bet you a lollipop hammer that you want to download the game right now just by reading that last sentence. Yes, Candy Crush is magical, and I, like the perfect Candy Crush consumer, ate it all up. (No pun intended.)
According to an article titled, "Powering Through Your Quarter-Life Crisis," a quarter-life crisis is a period of intense soul searching and stress occurring in your mid 20s to early 30s." Nathan Gehlert, Ph.D, a Washington D.C. psychologist, defines the typical sufferer as “highly driven and smart, but struggling because they feel they’re not achieving their potential or feeling they’re falling behind.” I had just graduated from college 2 years prior and began working at a job I cared nothing about. I had dreams and aspirations and ideas, but I felt stifled because I had no clear path, no direction to lead me to what I had hoped would be a future of success. I had been rejected from the graduate schools I had applied to and I felt hopeless, wallowing in my own self-pity. I lost faith in my abilities and in myself. I let rejection swallow me up and spit me out like a shark does when it bites off a human's leg and then spits it out when it realizes it's too bony. I was that legless survivor, and I was certain that my talents would be wasted away before anyone else got to witness them. So, I candy crushed and I candy crushed. I recently did some research on Candy Crush and discovered that every year, 1.3 billion dollars is spent on the popular game’s in-app purchases. Sadly, I now have the confidence to admit I contributed a good amount of money to their yearly statistics. But what is not mentioned in that article, are the types of people who spent the money on this immensely habit-forming game. Addiction drives people toward something and brainwashes them, and that's because it's an escape. It gives us a reason to avoid dealing with the issue at hand. But the sad part is, it's only temporary. We're unwittingly procrastinating because we fear the truth, that life is hard. We want it to be as soothing as the world of Candy Crush, but the truth is, life won't always be that colorful and glorious.
Although the slow melody of music sounding while you match up delicious looking candies put me to sleep, it assuaged my nerves. It was a friend showing me only the good parts of life. Seriously, I would give the Candy Crush composer an award because the music is just as soothing as Beethoven’s classics. (That probably can be debated, but this is my story!) With the enjoyment of the music, I played for hours and hours, matching and crushing the colorful sweets, avoiding the fact that I was channeling my anxiety into purchasing mouthwatering candies I would never get a chance to actually taste. The more candies I had, the more cheats and boosters I had to get me through a hard level of the game and a hard stage in life. Not being able to move up in a level, stressed me the HECK OUT. Running out of lives stressed me the heck out. So, I did what I do best. With a thumbprint away, I spent money and purchased a temporary sliver of my very own happiness. I just had to move on from Lemonade Lake and the Chocolate Mountains. I could NOT be stuck there. Being stuck there was the equivalent of being lost and left to deal with my real life problems.
I became very competitive against other players and hungry for more virtual candy. I HAD to keep playing, and while I continued playing, I spent hundreds of dollars. I believe that the game wasn’t the only thing soothing me; it was also the act of spending money. After crossing Bubble Gum Bridge, I started to confront my own issues (yes, I know what you’re thinking, money spending was definitely one of those issues), and I am still working on it. You know as well as I do that it feels pretty damn good to spend money, especially when it’s your own. But what I realized from playing Candy Crush is that you cannot buy away your problems. You have to face them head on, no matter how painful or hard they may be. I was hiding in Candyland and each time I ran out of lives, in between thumbprint purchases, I was brought back to reality for a split second. I realized that I felt the same disappointment at Holiday Hut just as I felt previously at Crunchy Castle. It was time to let go and confront my issues. I can proudly say that Candy Crush helped me cope at a time when I needed coping the most, and guess what! I am able to play Candy Crush without spending a dime!
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