on side quests

Main quests are tidy. They come with titles, timelines, and outcomes someone else decided.

But I’ve always found the best work and the best living happens when I drift a little you know taking a detour. Work gets the spotlight, but side projects do the heavy lifting. The ones with no job title, no stakeholder, no real deadline. Just a hunch that it might be worth your time.

Side quests aren’t side at all. They’re where I get to chase instincts instead of briefs. Where I can build something because it’s funny, because I need it, or because no one else did.

I call them side quests. They look like detours, but they end up shaping how I build, think, and spend my days. I’ve learned more from messing around than from most formal work.

The older I get, the faster time disappears. It's not just age or burnout. It’s not just because I’m busy. It’s because my days all look the same. Nothing new stands out, so my brain forgets most of it.

That’s why I keep chasing side quests. They break the loop. When I try something new, even if it goes nowhere, my day suddenly feels longer, more real.

Doing weird little things—mocking up a feature no one asked for, writing a journal entry about feeling average, or sketching something weird which i saw on pinterest—makes time stretch. I remember those days better than the ones packed with regular day work or a routine.

None of them have to be big. They just need to feel alive.

If time’s going to fly, I want to at least remember the view.