About a year ago I had the opportunity of experiencing a Virtual Reality game and it was the bomb; except for the part where dinosaurs and zombies were trying to eat me. Okie, maybe I am being just a little overly dramatic; but, if you saw how real those zombies looked, you’d think you were in an episode of The Walking Dead. So, kudos to my awesome brain for not being totally freaked out.
Before we found the place, my friends and I did some research and found a couple videos of others responding to virtual environments. They were mad funny, people screaming, running around forgetting they did not have super powers to run through walls; and we were like, these people be faking and exaggerating everything just for the fun of it…until we went and tried it for ourselves and let’s just say things got interesting.
One of my goals in the virtual environment was to take an elevator to the top of a skyscraper to retrieve an item that was on a plank protruding from the edge of building. I’m not afraid of heights and so I thought, this should be an easy mission. Boy was I wrong! This was by far my hardest task in the game. It felt like I was having this experience in real life and not a virtually simulated environment. I had convinced myself that it wasn’t real, only to look down and see how far I had come up in the elevator to get to the top. It sure looked real and my brain was convinced it was, so for a few seconds my body literally froze. Which is not unusual; if your body ever thinks it’s in danger, to protect you, it’s going to give you the urge to run.
So by this time my friends were screaming at me, “Jojo go a little closer to the cake; that’s the only way you’re gonna be able to pick it up” (they were able to see what I was doing in the virtual reality world from a television screen). And I was like, “yes peeps, I’m telling my body to do that but it’s not working.”
So long story short (lol) I managed to retrieve the cake, but a few slices fell off the plate and splattered on the ground below.
…acknowledge that other realities exist….
All in all, it was an AMAZINNG experience that I’ll never forget especially because of three epic lessons it taught me:
1) What you feed your eyes on shapes your outlook in life. If you keep looking on the concrete below, chances are you’ll probably fall onto the concrete below as your eyes are subliminally reading this as your goal. They don’t use blinkers on race horses because they’re stylish or fancy. The blinkers help the horses to look only at what is ahead; the finish line. The finish line is all the horse focuses on; not the other horses running beside it or the tons of people sitting in the stands. In that moment of adrenaline it’s all about the finish line.
In the end, that is all that matters, I only managed to walk that plank and retrieve the cake when I decided to start focusing on a window pane that was on the building in front of me.
2) Challenge what you know and be willing to change your perspective. Some time ago during a lecture on perspectives, a classmate shared on a heated debate she had with a friend. Both had watched Miss Jamaica world and were discussing their predictions of who they thought would win. They each described the young lady, not realizing they were talking about the same person. Instead they were back and forth, each trying to get the other to agree on the color dress the young lady was wearing.
My classmate convincingly said “she is wearing a silver dress”; her friend on the other hand insisted it was green. They eventually agreed to disagree and ended the squabble. After re-watching a clip, my classmate amusingly admitted the only reason she thought the dress was silver was because she had been viewing the show from a black and white television; while her friend’s television was colored.
Hey, saying that to say, equip your brain in such a way that it acknowledges that other realities do exist. Sometimes our reality sees yellow and for whatever reason to someone else it might be black.
Having my friends cheer me on helped me to navigate my way to the cake, and it doesn’t always take friends, sometimes all you need is a different perspective.
3) Imagination is underrated. This is probably the most self-explanatory and might just be summed up as ‘seeing is believe’. It really does work on some levels, other times you just gotta have faith (but that’s a story for another article).
“What you looking at?”, no really, ask yourself this question and take the time out to answer it. We often see with our mind’s eye and its very important to remember that, just like the virtual environment I experienced, there are world’s we create every day. Some of us escape to them by day dreaming; others write them down and make them into goals or vision boards for long-term or short-term achievement. That virtual environment I can assure you began as an idea, a thought, an imagination to simulate real life experiences; and with work, time and dedication, somebody made it a reality. You can do the same with your imagination, dream big put in the time, and work hard at making your dreams a reality too.
In the meantime, chart your course keep forging your way forward and remember destiny awaits you, keep it in sight. If you do ever decide to try a virtual reality game do let us know how it goes, just comment below or shoot us an email. I hope your brain will be more cooperative than mine and that you’ll have ton loads of fun.
-Jojo
written by Joniel Gyles : TheBeyondWoman Magazine Lifestyle Editor
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