These last few weeks have been rough. The whole year has been very difficult, to be frank, but the last month or so has been particularly brutal. It seems as though we’ve been forced to move from one tragedy to another without any pause, digesting news of hurricanes Harvey and Irma to the Las Vegas shooting to the news of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct and, afterwards, the #MeToo campaign – a phenomena that, while it was largely empowering and supportive, also forced all of us to be thinking about sexual assault literally constantly for a week, which can be just as damaging to survivors as it is powerful to those who are only just opening their eyes to the issue.

As someone who spends lots of my recreational time on the internet, it can be overwhelming, even painful, to be constantly bombarded with news. Yet, as hard as it is, I (and many of my peers) still feel a compulsion or even responsibility to stay up-to-date on what is happening in the world and to be an informed citizen, even when it’s too much.

In the wake of these news stories, I’ve found myself relying on stress-relief tactics that date back to my childhood — primarily "Animal Crossing," a social simulation video game by Nintendo that first broke onto the scene in 2001 for the Nintendo 64. I began playing on the GameCube version as a second grader, occasionally investing in new editions of the games for newer consoles and logging hours intermittently.

"Animal Crossing" is based in real time, has a peaceful but upbeat soundtrack, and is full of adorable anthropomorphic animal villagers that populate your town. There is no overarching quest, and the many tasks you can choose to complete are pleasantly low stakes, like fishing in your town’s river or digging up fossils to donate to your museum.

The key feature of "Animal Crossing" that makes it such a wonderful stress-relief activity for me is simple: it’s not the internet. There was a period of time in my life that my recreational screen time was spent almost entirely browsing the likes of Facebook and Tumblr, until even that became stressful because they were steeped in the same news stories that I needed a break from.

It took years for me to figure out that I wasn’t giving myself time to actually relax and, because of that, my mental health was taking a nosedive. "Animal Crossing," while it’s not by any means a solution to any of my problems, is a comforting break for me to recharge so I can manage all of the obstacles life throws at me, news and otherwise.

Being informed and aware of current events is, to me, a responsibility of every citizen. With that being said, I think it is just as important to make sure you’re taking care of your own needs – some of which are for relaxing activities that are removed from the news cycle. For me, that means specifically engaging with news and setting aside time to think, write, and talk about what’s happening in the world, but also setting aside time to check on my neighbors in "Animal Crossing."

The world can be really upsetting sometimes, and I think it’s important that we allow ourselves to be upset by current events because that is what moves us as people to make positive change. That means we have a responsibility to ourselves to de-stress from them, too.

The world has a lot of de-stressors to offer. If you don’t have access to "Animal Crossing," you might like other games like "Stardew Valley" or "MapleStory," which are similarly open-ended. If you’re looking to step away from video games, you can go for classics like exercising, chatting with friends, reading a good book, or watching a television show that you like. If you like painting, you can find Bob Ross’ PBS programs on the internet, either to follow along or just to watch and enjoy. There are several seasons of "The Joy of Painting" on Netflix, and Twitch streams episodes of his show every Monday.