My Journey to 365 Days in Animal Crossing New Horizons — Part 3

Well, we've made it through another month… miraculously! This last month was very difficult; real life got in the way too often, as my wife and I both got sick with a pretty pesky flu. This meant that I spent a lot of time doing chores for the both of us — especially as even today she's still feeling ill — or being sick in bed myself. Aside from sneezing and coughing an almost comical amount throughout this month, I also had a few appointments, work-related things to tend to, and, of course, a new League of Legends pass to get through. It's safe to say that I didn't have the best track record of coming online!

This is all okay, however! Not only did a good friend remind me that it's part of the process, especially for a game that spans a whole year, but I also still managed to get some important stuff done. But before we go on to talking about what I got right, let's talk about how I felt throughout this last month in Animal Crossing New Horizons. 

Starting off, I experienced something very interesting in my first time really living through winter in-game: as someone who has never lived anywhere with seasons, I hadn’t realised how incredibly long the seasons can feel. As the month went on, I began missing the greenness of the grass and trees! The endless white snow became boring, and for whatever reason, I lost my touch of making perfect Snowboys, so the whole thing became more anxiety-inducing than fun-inducing, especially because they give you rewards for getting it right. 

As I walked through my town trying to visualise what I'll be doing when spring finally arrives, I also noticed that it's becoming a little... too foresty. By planting a Bell Tree every day and never chopping it down, my town has become overrun by an overpopulation of trees! That being said, it's not a bad thing; now that I finished my third ramp, I'll be able to begin working on my garden, and I'll need all the trees I can get to make the nature-y areas look natural. In addition to that, I'll also be making the camp area now, as it feels much more fitting when the warmth begins to roll across my island! It just felt wrong to make animals camp in the middle of snowy woods, especially since I didn't even have any furniture or proper ideas in mind yet.

This, thankfully, means that I have many more plans to accomplish in March. By making the camp, I'll also have to start visiting to find what animals are around so I can invite them to move! Hopefully, this will incentivise me to come back more often, especially as I move away from the pesky flu. 

As for what goals I reached in February, well... I managed to finish my ramp and gather 100,000 Bells! That means I'm just a smidge away from getting my next house upgrade. I also noticed with a few days of anticipation that there were some critters I hadn't caught, such as the Blowfish and the Venus' Flower Basket! Considering they were leaving next month, I had to get serious about catching them.... which, of course, means I forgot, and then I procrastinated until the actual last minute. As I am writing this, it is the 29th of February 10:26pm, and I just spent an hour trying to catch the last two fish I needed in order to ace the month!

Oh, I also had some run-ins with some of the NPCs of the game! I saw Gulliver in the sand, though I didn't end up collecting the stuff to help him (I was quite sick and lazy), but the most exciting day was meeting Wisp when I logged in recently to get the last remaining fish for my February collection! It was very nice to get to see something happen unexpectedly. I do enjoy the game, but sometimes it feels like Animal Crossing is a never-ending loop of chores with little sustenance in between. I can't tell if it was the excitement for the League of Legends pass or the low energy from the flu, but I was falling out of love with the game and the experience. This was shocking because I've been trying to stay steady and not farm or overstay my welcome when I log in, yet it still feels a bit repetitive. 

I definitely hope that next month, I find my love for it again. In big part, having this article series to write really encourages me to pick up the game every now and again, so there's hope there, at least. Besides, despite the lacklustre attendance, getting the last fish and finishing the third ramp pumped me a bit. Now that the snow is leaving, I'm hoping to get back into the jam and motion of the game! I'll get to collect cute spring clothes, hunt for furniture to fill my ever-growing apartment, and make something special out of my campsite and garden. Plus, if anything, I learned that there's victory in holding on and showing up, even if it's not every day or for very long — a year's journey has to have room for error!

In order to help the feeling of repetitive chores, my wife thought it might be a good idea to have clearer goals in mind for March! So, here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish and what I’ll try to finish to talk about in my next entry:

• Set up a nice camp for animals to visit.
• Start collecting flowers for my garden.
• Clear the town from Christmas items (I’ve procrastinated this embarrassingly long…).
• Find some spring outfits (and probably throw away the winter ones!).
• Upgrade my house again.
• Hunt for more furniture to fill in the extra house space.
• Buy and sell Turnips at least once (I forgot every February Sunday).
• Actually fill in my spreadsheet when I log in.

Of course, this is all just a generalised list; although I hope to finish them, I don’t want to overburden myself and end up burnt out from the game. I’ll do my best to achieve these to keep having reasons to come back!

Thanks for checking out another entry of my journey to 365 days in Animal Crossing New Horizon! I hope next month I come bearing even better news about my attendance and progress.