5 min readMay 27, 2021
It has been a tough year for so many around the world not just within the airsoft community. As a content creator it has been tough for me due to the limited opportunities to record and document airsoft, but my problems have been insignificant compared to so many in the community. Whether it has been job losses, shops being forced to close, fields not being able to open and still being forced to pay rent by the landlords. Mental health problems and physical sickness are also affecting many people we know. One of the side effects of this has been people dwelling in unhappiness and anger which overflows onto social media, not just within the airsoft community, but also into wider society. Many have lost sight of what really matters in this short life we have, hard conversations with ourselves and our loved ones need to be had. I had one of these conversations a couple of weeks ago with my friend Jacob who suffers from a rare and deadly form of bone cancer. I shared this conversation in my recent gameplay video “This airsoft kid made me cry..” which touched me so much I felt it needed to be shared…
My take aways from my chat with Jacob
- Be Grateful.
Gratitude for what we have. Being grateful for being able to play airsoft… It’s so easy to be bitter about this last year, to feel so much was taken away from us, all those cool things we could have done, the amazing places we could have played at if we had not been locked down. Jacob got real with me, he explained how his cancer gave him the inspiration to do more things, to get shit done… We can use this year to inspire us to do more, to be grateful of what opportunities we do have and can create for ourselves.
-Don’t dwell
Jacob explained to me how he doesn’t dwell, he has figured out how to confront his own mortality, how he stays positive and pushes forward. He also thinks of others before himself, making jokes of his own physical appearance during chemo so those around him feel more comfortable. What I took from this was that even those around you who appear stronger than you may be hiding their own insecurities. If you are able to support someone close to you, try to have empathy with those around you. Helping and supporting others when they are in their time of need, especially when they are not asking, is a great feeling.
- Be accountable to yourself.
It is very hard to change the world, bad things are always going to happen to you eventually, it is unavoidable. But you can take account of your own decisions. Jacob explained to me the temptation to disappear into your own mind, get trapped in misery. Nobody is going to be able to stop you going there, only you can do something about it. If you are unhappy, it is because of your perspective, your decisions, your goals. I don’t think this is an easy thing to achieve, I am in awe of how Jacob is able to achieve it but I know that if he can do it we all can.
So if you are trying to be more accountable, what does this mean if you enjoy airsoft? For me I know what I like and enjoy within the hobby. I enjoy travelling to great fields around the world, I enjoy supporting likeminded organiser and players, I like meeting and connecting with passionate players who enjoy the same style of sneaky play that I do… For Jacob he enjoys WW2 so you will often see him dressed in WW2 costumes, using historical guns and he is planning on attending dedicated WW2 events. He knows what he loves, he is honest so he is doing more of it… As soon as I am able to I will be travelling to fields all over the world to record the best gameplays in awesome locations. If you don’t do it you only have yourself to blame. What will you do?
- Personal fitness.
Jacob explained to me how the doctors couldn’t believe how physically active he was. We have one ‘at bat’ in this life and many of us have been a bit lazy during this past year. Staying active and fit helps our mental health and makes playing airsoft more enjoyable. I will never be into gyms or body building, it’s just not my thing, but I do go running most days and make sure i do some exercises before bed each night. Be grateful for what physical abilities you do have and keep your engine turning over because it could be taken away from you if you don’t look after it…
-Positivity
With all the toxic content that is pumped out on social media in the wake of the past year, something I know about very personally, it is important to cut out the negativity and surround yourself with strong influences on your life. Jacob is one of those influences on me and it is amazing to be able to share some of his light with you all. But what I also see in Jacob is he surrounds himself with positive influences. Positivity attracts positivity. You can control this. Prioritise your mental health, you don’t need to see negativity, cut it out. That may mean taking a tough decision to limit who you interact with on social media, you may need to explain to a ‘friend’ that you are still there if they need you but you need to cut them off from facebook or Instagram because you don’t want to read their rants every day. Interact with people who inspire you, reach out to someone who means a lot to you who you have not spoken to this year. You are in control, take accountability, like Jacob does.
Please be sure to check out the full conversation I had with Jacob in this week’s gameplay video…
