I doubt I'm alone when I say 2020 has bee a terrible year. Not only with quaratine and general anxiety about the politics of the world, it has been a terrible year for me personally. My grandfather got covid and my dad is in an out of the hospital. I have become so isolated from many of my friends and during July/August I was at my lowest point. I was even in the hospital mental ward for attempted suicide. I was just going through the motions back home day by day, feeling so lost.

One day, I decided to check out Valorant after my sister in law said she liked playing it, and I heard all the hype. It was quite the learning curve, but I would soon get super into it. What helped was I have a good group of friends who always want to play, and they helped teach me the ropes to the point where I can usually hold my own. We would play competitive together and seeing my own improvement, in both my rank and also just my general skill, made me so happy, like I am actually accomplishing something and not being the usual failure I am. I have climbed up 4 ranks so far this act, and it has honestly been the highlight of my 2020 as weird as that sounds. Feels weird to have some videogame help you so much, but good or bad, thank you Riot.