World-building IRL - by joss - box.
World-building is something we associate with authors, cinematographers and video game designers — we constrain our creativity to fictional universes that exist behind screens or in the pages of books.
Choosing writing, film or coding as your world-building medium feels so… possible. Pick up a pencil, whip out your camera, learn game development — suddenly you can establish a whole reality where you get to make the rules, craft tidy storylines, and ✨ curate the vibes✨.
Pouring our hearts into universes that are one step removed from reality is a wonderful outlet, but there will always be some emotional distance when a glass screen or paper boundary separates us from the world we create. It’s easy to forget that the world we wake up to, complain about, and exist in every day is a world we can influence.
If you ever feel tempted to give up on the real world, remember that this is where we have water gun fights, breathe forest air, eat awesome sandwiches, go dancing, and are brought to tears laughing with friends. We will always return to the messy and imperfect lives in front of us 1 , meaning they are worth directing our creativity towards.
