My wife - My Hero
This photo of my wife and me was taken in 2016, less than two weeks before our daughter was born. Yes, at that time, I used to tie my beard. Let me tell you a story.
We all like to brag about our achievements in our respective fields. We love to share our success stories. Be in the spotlight. But behind each of our accomplishments are unseen heroes - people who motivate us, care for us, root for us, and stand beside us no matter what.
Behind me stands my wife. Essentially, my game development journey started the moment I met her. Of course, I had been tinkering with my games for years before our paths crossed, but she was the one who gave me the courage to apply for my first game development job. She was the one who built my confidence (and still does to this day). She was the one who could envision us achieving amazing things in our respective fields in the future. Before we got married, she was my best friend. She was the one who believed in my first indie project (which failed but that’s a different story) which I spent nine months working on after we got married. No job, no income, burning through our saved money in order to pursue this dream of being indie developer and making living off of my productions.
Many of you asked me in the comments under my previous post how I coped with my burnout, and it’s really difficult to list all the factors. Certainly, one of those elements was warming presence of my wife. That gave me lots of ease, for sure.
My wife also saw my post and decided to leave a few words from her perspective. You can find her response in the comment section of my previous post but to save you some time, here is what she said:
Magdalena Łukasik: “As a wife to this developer may I add. I remember you - young and full of dreams, young and full of passion. I remember how this passion made you work endlessly. I remember how it was impossible to talk to you about anything but Witcher, bugs and Witcher. I remember how tired you were and not capable to admit it. How this flow of development swallowed you whole. But wasn’t that how it was supposed to be? Isn’t your 20’ 30’s for this? To confront those dreams with reality? To put in hard work and see results that can benefit you for life? To just learn about how this passion can burn you down or how you manage this fire? I see you now- older with the same passion. But smarter and more experienced. Now you can turn this experience into making more and more dreams come true. Now you can be the flow instead of just going with it.”
To this day, I’m thankful for her patience and understanding. All the bad experiences are behind us, and now we feel stronger than ever. Well, I’m trying to, but it’s easier with her next to me.
#GameDev #Burnout #Support #Motivation
