Love, respect, worship, and obey. You cannot feel your way out of depression, but you can work yourself through it.

While I have suffered from depression for many years, I have much in common with almost everyone. Every one of us, no matter the state of physical health, suffers at times from disillusionment, hopelessness, and blue days. All of us grieve, stress, and worry at some point in our lives. We all hit roadblocks, unexpected expenses, and life-changing losses.

Why is it so hard for us to push through those times? Is it because we are more concerned with how we feel than what we know? When it comes to depression, are we overcome by the feelings instead of accepting that the feelings are a result of the problem, not the problem?

Medications have helped treat a chemical disorder that contributes to my depression. Medication, however, does not cure depression.

The pull of feelings, of emotions, can be so powerful that we hear of marriages breaking up because one of the partners says, “I just don’t feel love anymore.”

Love is not something you feel and not something you fall in. Love is a verb. It is an action. When you love someone, you put his or her needs and desires before your own. You do what you can do to make their lives easier, even when you want to give them a good kick in the pants. You put aside your feelings, and you work on your life with that person. Love grows stronger, and deeper and creates an unbreakable bond due to the resolve in your heart, not the butterflies in your tummy.

In practice, putting love into action produces respect. A husband who cheats on his wife may have 100 reasons why he made that choice, but it comes down to one thing. He stopped respecting himself, her, and the bonds of marriage. The Lord doesn’t tell us to love our spouse when we feel like it. He says, “Love them.” We dress modestly out of respect for our families and ourselves. We speak a certain way to show respect for those around us. We bathe, work, worship, and discipline ourselves out of respect for our identity as a child of God and out of respect for those around us.

You cannot simply feel your way out of depression. You can work through it and try to overcome it by following God’s instructions. He would have us get up and get to work according to His high standards. Do your job, care for your neighbor, help your friends, and reach out to the lost and the hurt.

This is not to say that we should be devoid of feeling. We actually can experience the purest, most joyful feelings when we know we come close to the love and righteousness of God through obedience to Him. God will reward our faithfulness. He does not promise us happiness, but He does promise us joy, the kind that outlasts suffering and the mood swings and periods of anxiety to which all people are prone.

Love, respect, worship, and obey. You cannot feel your way out of depression, but you can work yourself through it.

Photo credit: Geralt

Esports is an international phenomenon. You can view virtual games or actual games online of just about any sport you like. Esports gives fans access when they want it from their laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you are interested in e-sports, gaming, virtual reality, and social media, you have probably heard the word Metaverse. Last year, Facebook changed the name of its company to Meta. No, Facebook is not going away. Social media is in the early stages of evolution, like online gaming. By 2021, mobile gaming brought in roughly $88bn in global revenues. 

The Internet is a vast network that connects billions of computers with millions of servers. Multiple electronic devices like computers, mobile phones, tablets, and smartwatches are used to access the internet. Once on the internet, people buy and sell goods. People can play lottery gaming and experience Esports which are new to this generation.

The metaverse is not the same as the internet. It doesn't compete with the internet, and it doesn't replace the internet. Metaverse builds on the internet.

People “traveling” through Metaverse traverse a virtual world with aspects of the physical world. The use of technology such as social media, VR, AR, and AI enables people to traverse a virtual world with aspects of the physical world. We expect all this to be done using digital currency. To a considerable degree, people can “live” in the metaverse. It is important to note that living in the metaverse is still some time off. However, in these early stages, people say safety is an issue they are concerned with. Even in a virtual universe, we must be safe from bad people. 

Photo credit: Mo

In the metaverse, you may want to climb the Eiffel Tower, surf the deepest oceans, or tour Buckingham Palace. These things are possible without you leaving your home recliner. You will be able to explore ancient history and modern miracles, including sights, sounds, and even tastes. Experts believe this can be possible as early as 2030. But there is much work to do.

How will this affect e-gaming, e-sports, online lottery play, and online casinos? These companies have made a dedicated effort in the world of mobile gaming. They faced challenges getting their client base to reach for their smartphones and use an app to play their favorite games, attend Esports tournaments, or just use a spare 10 minutes to check scores and see what is happening in the online gaming world.

However, companies want consumers to grab their smartphones and work with them. Using a smartphone for gaming puts the clients in direct competition with the other avenues of business that want their time and money. Social networking, live-streaming, and news channels all grab your attention on your phone. The only way to get a customer to return to you repeatedly is by rewarding them. 

Giving them tournaments they want, bets with great odds, and a wide selection of current and classic games is a reward. Giving them an easy and user-friendly interface is a reward. 5G and 6G internet connections that don’t need high-speed Wi-Fi are rewarding. Building a client base based on loyalty has always been a challenge. Metaverse will step this challenge up a bit.

Photo credit: mahdis mousavi

In Metaverse, players enter the next level of gaming. Gaming companies will concentrate on decentralized games, but Metaverse can be centralized or decentralized. Being decentralized, players can stay and get an opinion of how to play the games. Here are some changes:

Players have unique avatars, which represent real virtual identities. The “people” in the Metaverse games are regulated by the characters. They live in the Metaverse, just as we live in our world.

The games are designed on a play-to-earn concept. Players win virtual gaming items, and they can sell these items for real-world money.

The players can invite friends from their social media accounts to interact with them inside the Metaverse. Like in the real world, you can invite a friend over to enjoy a game together.

Metaverse used virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to create a lifelike experience. 

Metaverse gaming platforms allow players to move their gaming tools from one space to another.

Metaverse uses the Internet of Things (IoT) to utilize data from the p

The Metaverse is in the very early stages of the design world. With this technology, the virtual world (Metaverse) can connect to a massive number of real-world devices. It can do things like changing the weather or atmosphere in the virtual game.

Major companies like Microsoft and Facebook have begun their massive Metaverse projects. Big gaming companies are looking toward the future. The internet was once a dial-up company with many issues but look at it today. Metaverse will be the next evolution of gaming, and we can hardly wait to see where it takes us.