Feeling stuck? Take a side quest.
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Has life got you down, feeling stuck in a rut, like you just can't get out of your own way? Maybe it's time to try a side quest. In video games, side quests are like little adventures off the beaten path that make the bigger adventure feel worth it. In real life, there's not much difference. You're engaging with something not for the win or for the money, but for the pure enjoyment. It may be a 20 mile walk. It could be learning how to knit a blanket. It could be even waking up to see the sunrise in a place you haven't been before. All over social media, people are sharing their own side quests. I want to go on a side quest. I want a side quest so hard that I end up taking like culinary classes in Paris.
So I finished my first side quest of the year and that was by getting ordained. So that is going to go into my side quest journal.
Today, I'm here with Mariel Segata, host of Life Kit. Hey, Brittany. Dr. Kira Gaunt, associate professor of ethnomusicology at the University at Albany. Hi.
What is a “side quest” and how does it relate to real-life play?
And Sahara Monet, curator of Let's Play NYC. Welcome, Sahara. Hi. To find out why people are sidequesting at this moment, what place play has in our lives, and how to find the perfect sidequest for you. Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident.
And a reminder, if you love It's Been a Minute, which from the sweet comments y'all have been leaving, it sounds like maybe you do. Be sure to follow or subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast app. That way you get new episodes the moment they drop. So happy to have you here. Okay, so we live in such a goal-oriented society, goal-oriented society, gym goals, health goals, career goals, that it's really interesting that side quests are taking off right now. Kira, why are side quests trending? What do they do for us as adults?
I think of side quests like play as practice for adults. They're about not knowing. And you're going to ask me, what is not knowing? Yeah, I was going to say not knowing what.
Because I don't know either. What don't we know?
Adults spend so much time in environments where they're trying to control the outcome of that play as a practice becomes about not knowing, not having an attachment to what the outcome is. Side quests release us from worrying about the outcome. Learning begins with inquiry. In fact, the word quest comes from the root question or inquiry. So it's not about answers. It's about the journey.
That's very different than sort of like the goal-oriented framework that we're discussing that a lot of us live within.
Yeah, it's not if you know, you know. It's I don't know. It leaves me with... And that's okay. Yeah, and that's okay. In fact, that's what we're striving for. If you asked me, I'd say it's about exploring your curiosity, like really as a skill exploring what curiosity is, not just... And I don't know, but I don't know what's over there.
I hear you laughing, Sahara. Like, how does that line up with your attendees' experiences when you have your Let's Play NYC events?
Yeah, it's interesting because I guess my interpretation of it is trying on different realities and then the trending aspect of it is social media almost makes it so much easier to discover those new practices of play or a hobby that maybe you didn't even thought of or knew that you could try. For a lot of the folks that come out to the playdates that we host, some people are more interested in trapeze or ninja parks and others are interested in salsa dancing. So kind of picking your own adventure is a part of the side questing experience, too.
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