Many are familiar with the popular Sim (simulation) games, known by titles such as Farm Town, FarmVille, YoVille, Millsbury, Mafia Wars…   They have a basic pattern, granting ‘energy’ points at a rate of 1 per 5 minutes to a maximum determined by your level in the game.  A player expends these energy points at different rates depending on the task, and may earn ‘money’ credits which can be applied to upgrades, etc, etc…  If you’ve been active on Facebook for more than 3 weeks, you’ve at least been invited to participate, if not hooked, on one or more of the offerings.

Stay with me, we’re switching topics, but they’ll tie together soon…

Several people in my circles, including myself, have a variety of ailments that impact our physical health and real life energy levels.  We’ve just about got the medical encyclopedia covered, with Lupus, Fibromyalgia, MS, Cardiomyopathy, Rheumatoid Arthritis, PTSD,  chemical imbalance depression, and more.  Each of these are invisible to the uninformed eye, but can wreak havoc with little or no notice.  We may be inexplicably exhausted after apparently no greater activity than socializing with friends or sitting behind a desk for 8 hours.

Here’s where the topics tie together…  I was once asked to clarify the impact of my condition, explaining it quickly to a group of young college students.  I went for the fastest shortcut I could find, energy points in sim games, and they understood immediately.  I’ve since been asked by friends to help explain why they may need down time, even away from loved ones.  This is the best I’ve got.

In the sim games, once you’ve picked & planted corn or played parlor checkers with your friends until your energy points are down to zero, you are left with three choices:  Spend electronic money credits to get electronic decorations, spend real legal tender money to buy more energy points, or step out of the game for a period of time while your energy points regenerate per schedule.    In real life, you may be able to spend legal tender money on hiring help, or grab a sugar/caffeine buzz, but the reality is, once the body has hit its limit, you’re down until you can rest & regenerate.  There’s no option but to step out of the game temporarily.  Continuing to push because you’re not dead yet can be, in some cases, deadly.

So, if your friend or loved one says “I need to stop for a while”, take their word for it.  Trying to explain the above to people who haven’t experienced medical fatigue just uses up more energy points, and for us, those are a premium.