This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for Persona 5

digitaltrends.com:

This article contains discussion of self harm.

Whenever I encounter a difficult time in my life, I always make a meaningful effort to reflect on as many positives as I can. My health is good — I have no aches, pains, or injuries — and I have a place to live, can afford my necessities, have a good relationship with most of my family, and so on. Games might sound like a trivial or superfluous thing to include compared to those things, but over time, I have only found more reasons to be grateful to have them in my life.

Between the current political and social landscape, mixed in with the winter holidays, I have been trying to be as proactive as possible to preserve my mental health. While they’re not what I rely on exclusively, I have recognized games as a major component in that pursuit. They have helped me in the times when I have been so close to giving up on hope. They have also been there to cement the best moments in my mind and allow me to relive just a fraction of those feelings. Games have completely changed the trajectory of my life, but even ignoring that, I would still be just as thankful for them for the lessons I was able to teach myself through them.

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Aside from the fallout of my parent’s divorce, one of the lowest periods of my life came in the winter of 2017 to 2018. I had graduated college a few years earlier, and the only job I had been able to find was working in a warehouse and as a delivery driver for a sandwich shop — not quite the life I had imagined for myself. Feeling dejected and hopeless hunting for a better job, I made a snap decision to move to a small town in southern Colorado near my two siblings.

This turned out to be the worst choice of my life.

It seems obvious in hindsight, but the job opportunities in