When you hit a wall?

You might start with this recent Inspiration thread. ?

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/1011506/inspiration-please#latest

Thank you @simgirl1010 , I will check it out!

"Lenny_Ogg;c-18324891" wrote:

You wrote you truely want to play Sims 4.
Maybe in this sentence lies the answer.
Ask yourself: Why do I truely want to play the sims 4?
What do you want to achieve?
Go on with your story? Something else?

Or you go the other way and ask yourself (or go ingame and find out):
What keeps you from playing the Sims 4? What made/makes you stop/quit?

Very insightful @Lenny_Ogg . I suppose, I truly want to play Sims 4 because it is fun, and it provides distraction for me when I start to get bogged down by my ocd fears and my paranoia, it provides a lot of things to do that while in a way it is ocd, I do get obsessive and compulsive about it, it keeps me from my more distressing obsessions and compulsions. What do I want to achieve? Well, I want to become a better builder, for one thing, I suppose. And, for another thing, I would like to get back into one of the saves that I love, but unfortunately, I think what has happened is that I created a bunch of small saves in order to build in that I have maybe lost sight of the saves I love.

What keeps me from playing Sims 4? Hm. I suppose, I am overwhelmed. I have created so many saves just to build. I don't know what save to play. I don't know what houses I want to use. I don't know, I don't know anything, it is very stressful. There is just too much going on. I love building but I think it has added another whole layer of question, what will I do, who what when where why how....too many things to choose from, too many too many too much.

Maybe some sort of artificially imposed limitations would be fun for you then?

One of the scenarios that's pretty tightly scripted, like Stuck In Their Shadow?
Or one that's open-ended but has a simple goal, like Extraterrestrial Researcher?
Or a challenge that isn't too long or complicated, like mcrudd's Educated Teen Runaway Challenge here on the forum?
Or play one premade household that has a home they live in already, maybe renovate their home or make a new public lot when you get the building itch, but don't rotate households or try to build the whole town?
Or a building-specific challenge that has some simple limitations? (I don't know these as well since I'm more into gameplay, but I'm sure you could find some good ones here in the Challenges section or elsewhere online)

"Lenny_Ogg;c-18324918" wrote:

You could move your favourite families and houses in a main save to make it easier to log in.
(I play the same save (=my only save) since 2014 ^^')
I read in another thread that rotational players often have a kind of schedule. So they play each household for a week or so.
This would keep you from overthinking too much too.
You could also do this to schedule your activities. One day you build ?, the other day you play ?, then work on your story.
I also do the most of the story 'work' off screen. Make notes and think about the plot while doing the dishes (or try to sleep lol).
Or make a little lottery. Write activities on little papers, fold them and put them in a jar and pick one ?

But one thing I wouldn't do is:
To stress out.
Like you said. The Sims can help you with your condition (they do for me too).
So let them help you. But if it is too stressful and the balance tips into negative feelings - maybe better take a break.
And do not stress out about taking a break. This is ok too. I took many breaks over the years.
There are a lot of awesome games out there which maybe are of better help for you at the moment.

This is very calming advice. I definitely think that moving my favorite families and houses into one main save is a great idea. Then I can have everyone settled the way I want them starting out. I do, also, need to create more of a schedule for playing my various households. I think a week at a time, like others do, will be perfect. And also what you said, about taking one day to build, one day to play, etc, that is a great idea too.

I will see how these things work out. If I am stressed about it then, I will take a break. But, I feel pretty good about these ideas, this advice. Thank you so much, @Lenny_Ogg

"mightysprite;c-18324919" wrote:
Maybe some sort of artificially imposed limitations would be fun for you then?

One of the scenarios that's pretty tightly scripted, like Stuck In Their Shadow?
Or one that's open-ended but has a simple goal, like Extraterrestrial Researcher?
Or a challenge that isn't too long or complicated, like mcrudd's Educated Teen Runaway Challenge here on the forum?
Or play one premade household that has a home they live in already, maybe renovate their home or make a new public lot when you get the building itch, but don't rotate households or try to build the whole town?
Or a building-specific challenge that has some simple limitations? (I don't know these as well since I'm more into gameplay, but I'm sure you could find some good ones here in the Challenges section or elsewhere online)

@mightysprite I definitely like the building challenges - I have only discovered the monthly ones, but I would love it if there are others as well. I will have to do a little searching I suppose? I tried a gameplay scenario challenge one time and it just wasn't for me, maybe someday I can do it but there were various things about it that were problems, the worst being that I immediately forgot which save was the scenario save lol! I was so confused. My memory is terrible because of my schizophrenia, it's one of the worst things about it. You should hear me trying to talk to people on the phone sometimes, when I completely forget why I am calling, or I can't get out what I am trying to say, it's very embarrassing.

- Explore something in the game that you haven't done before.
- Start a short lifespan legacy - added challenge randomize everything. There's a few random generators out for TS4.
- Pick a premade, look up their story on The Sims Wiki, continue their story or change it drastically.
- If you're not a builder then consider learning how to build. This is what I've been focusing on. I've always liked building but haven't been very skilled at it. I started renovating EA lots and watching tons of build videos on YT. It's really helped and now I feel like I could build almost anything with a little creative juice.

I have definitely felt this way before. Almost like a feeling of being lost whenever you sit down to play. It's a bit indescribable, that feeling. Like, all you can think about is how much you want to play the sims, but at the same time, you have no idea why you want to play. You just know you want to play and enjoy it like you used to be able to, but can't seem to get into it. I'd imagine that's what it feels like when people say they have "writer's block." In fact, just a few months ago I was going through the very same thing of not knowing what to do, what sim to play, what world, house, etc. I would think of things I wanted to do, and then, by the time I opened the game to do them, I no longer had any interest in doing them. I didn't think anybody else felt that way at times. I was getting bored playing with the sims I already had, and couldn't seem to create any that I actually wanted to keep. That's one reason I started a story thread over in the creative corner.

Monica, the sim in my story, was one that I had played before. I think she's been in my game since around 2021. I play with aging off, so what I ended up doing was playing Monica over again as a teen (she was previously a young adult), and it's been fun to play her life in a different way from a different perspective.

My point being: Sometimes, when you feel overwhelmed with simming choices, I've found it can help to go back to something you're familiar with, as I did with Monica, and as you said you wanted to with your old save.

Think back to the most fun you've had playing the game. Are there any favorite sims in your library/gallery that you enjoyed playing that you could play again and have them go a different direction in their life? Maybe have them try out some aspect of the game (a career, a skill, a world) that you haven't explored before, or, if you play with aging off, set them as a different age, give them different traits, maybe even give them a sibling, and see where it goes from there.

"MrPlumbob;c-18324935" wrote:
I didn't think anybody else felt that way at times.

I suspect it might be quite common, to different degrees. I’ve felt a bit like this in the past, mainly because there is just so much content in the game that I felt overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start, or what I was trying to achieve in the repeated save games I created and then abandoned. For me, the disciplined structure of playing rotationally (1 sim week per household) has really helped. I don’t have to try to do everything with one household, so there’s no pressure, and I get variety by switching households every week, which keeps the game fresh and stops it becoming boring.

There is a couple that I really like, reminds me a bit of me and my partner (except that I have light skin and red hair, and he has long hair, and I don't have tattoos YET - I know what I want but I don't have the money for it, gosh do you know how expensive those are???) (Also my partner has piercings, I don't think there are those piercings in sims)

https://athena.thesims.com/v2/images/0/0x0000052f/4EE280B5-6686-49EE-A920-D07AB3492B35/02.jpg

https://athena.thesims.com/v2/images/0/0x0000052f/4EE280B5-6686-49EE-A920-D07AB3492B35/01.jpg

Anyway this couple reminds me of us because they just seem so cool. I know that I'm not cool particularly lol, but my partner truly is, when I say that he is it's not just me that thinks so, EVERYONE thinks so, and people think that I am because he is. I think they fit super well in my Haunted Victorian House:

https://athena.thesims.com/v2/images/1/0x000014bd/94A88C46-B4E6-4F37-9B53-D14C617C1BD9/00.jpg

So I am starting out with this household, I'm going to have them have two girls, and with one other household, I'm going to have them have two boys, that won't be overwhelming as far as the number of households and I can have the kids grow up together and possibly fall in love when they get older etc.

The other household is in one of my beach houses.

I'm super excited about this and I am so thankful for all of your kind advice and help. You guys truly are the reasons I was able to get back into this today.