"Thank you Pokemon Go"

#PokemonGO: Ever since I was a kid when I got my first Gameboy, I've fallen in love with this series. Played every handheld, dedicated weekends to completing the main stories, walking to and from school with my trusty console out (Looking back I'm lucky I never got hit by a car). Back then I made friends in school with other players, though the local playerbase eventually dwindled as I got older. Since then I don't think I've played with anyone else. I sort of lost touch with the series, only playing them occasionally.When PoGo intially released, I fell head over heels for it. I walked 30 mins every day to get to the small town nearby, which had around 5 gyms and 10 stops. The place was full of people wandering the streets in the middle of night; the atmosphere was amazing. Everyone was friendly, talked to everyone and I got to share my knowledge of the games with all the people new to it. A few weeks in I visited a city with one of my friends and was amazed by the amount of stops and variety of pokemon. Once I got back to my town the hype dwindled rapidly for me. It was nothing in comparison to the big city and I was fed up of catching pidgies and rats. I stopped playing.Recently, my life went downhill. I lost my mother after a 6 year struggle with cancer, gave up my dog, my job soon after that and my childhood home. I wouldn't leave the house for months on end, spending all of my time asleep or on the computer. I gained a lot of weight that I had previously lost, I think I ended up somewhere around 16/17 stone. I've never been small, but this was definitely the biggest I've ever been. Eventually I had to move and that was when I redownloaded the game. Whilst sorting out the new house, I was couch surfing for a month. During that time, I had nothing to do, so I redownloaded PoGo. And my life drastically improved.No longer was I sitting around all day moping. I'd restarted, wanting that feeling I got when the game first game out. I was amazed by all the changes that had come in, gen 2, mass transfer, evo items, and worked hard to level up and get competitive pokemon. When the house was eventually sorted I was around level 25, and was able to somewhat compete with the gyms. I'd already lost some weight, but I hadn't really talked to anyone. It wasn't until raids were released that I realised how much I appreciated this game.My first raid was a Snorlax. Nobody knew what to expect. We had around 7 people turn up. I've never been that good in social situations, so I sort of just sat at the back and followed whate everyone else was doing. After a good few attempts we managed to do it. The same can't be said for the Tyranitar that showed up a few hours later. Fast forward to legendary raids. I joined the local FB group and somehow I ended up becoming an admin, running it with 2 other women, who have ended up becoming amazing friends of mine. I've lost around 2 stone in weight, have got over the majority of my social anxiety and have met some great people in the process. It'd hard work organising raids in my small town, but I wouldn't give it up for anything. As much shit as people give Niantic for how rural players are treated, I love having a close knit community to chat and play with.This has been on my mind for quite a while, and I just wanted to write it down.TLDR: Played pokemon go at launch, stopped,shit happened and I became a recluse and depressed, redownloaded it and I'm now more outgoing and healthier. via /r/pokemongo http://ift.tt/2eD4bDp