How do you avoid stress/burnout?

[RykerNightshard]

I've been avoiding Stardew for a bit, mainly because ever since I unlocked Ginger Island, I've been feeling really rushed, I have to check my cellar, check the luck, check my fields, check the greenhouse, check if it's someone's birthday, check my animals, fix that path the weeds broke, check my slimes, check my statue of perfection, check the weather, see if it's worth it to make a skull cavern run, go to Ginger Island, get materials, see if there's a good Qi Quest... There's so much to it all, and it's hard to do in just 15 minutes, especially when material hunting takes up most of the day, especially cinder shards, Iridium, and prismatic shards. And also making sure all my check-ins are on time. And harvesting my crops, checking my kegs, my fish ponds, my preserve jars, my mushroom logs...

 

[Magically Clueless]

Well the biggest thing to avoid burnout is to just take a break and stop playing for a bit. But another big thing is, if you're not having fun doing something, then just don't do it. For me, I do have a little list of dailies I do in a day (so it'd be talk to/gift spouse, pat my children on the head, pat my pets and animals, make sure everyone's fed, interact with my statues and do all my crops) and then after that i just decide the main one thing i want to do that day, or if i just want to wander around and do whatever

ginger island isn't really meant to be visited every single day, at least not how i see it. like, you should dedicate your day to ginger island if you want to go to the volcano or do stuff there and try to not worry about anything else. it's easier to visit ginger island more when you have a bunch of totems or you have the obelisk, but even still, it's okay if you don't do anything on the island for a while

if you feel your list of dailies is too long or you're not having fun with them, maybe you can sell off whatever thing you don't want to deal with. just sell your animals if you don't want to keep taking care of them, you can always buy more later. don't plant crops next season so you can focus more on other stuff. let your logs and ponds sit if you think they're taking too much out of your day. i think it's important to remember that the game goes at YOUR pace, and if you want it to be intense, it will be, but similarly if you want it to be slow, it will be that as well

 

[Lew Zealand]

Check less. Wayyyyyy less. What I do is not terribly different than Magically Clueless.

Inside:
Kiss spouse, nudge the TV and daily statues. House is too big to find the rugrats but I'll pet them if they're around. Cellar only needs checking on Spring and Fall 17th. Or maybe 13th? Meh I forget.

Talk to spouse between 11am-1pm to get different dialog. Talk to spouse ~6pm-9:50pm to get more different dialog.

Outside:
There's an indicator Keg and Jar. If they're pulsing away processing, everything else can be ignored. Everything. If they're ready, swap some Fruit in and sell the wine/jelly, a morning's work twice a week. If they're ready in the evening, ignore and do it tomorrow morning.

Check the Greenhouse every 2-3 days because I like the color of the Fruit Trees. Coop and Barn doors are left open and I have enough Farm Grass for animals to feed themselves. Check inside Coop and Barn once a week. Egg thingy and Cheez thingy are inside so I never see them unless I have nothing else to do: if it's 10:30pm one day and I'm out of do-things, I'll grab some Cheez and Mayo. Those machines process in a few hours. I check them maybe once a week.

Because I don't need money for anything.

If you need money for anything then I recommend doing ONLY ONE THING… OK or maybe two. When I needed

10,000,000g for the Ugly Clock, I grew ~190 of a single seasonal crop on the Farm (Rhubarb, Starfruit, Pumpkin) and Jarred and Kegged those to sell. Same went for the Ancient Fruit in the Greenhouse. That's it. 2 work mornings a week and in 3 seasons I had all the g. I occasionally ran out of those crops and just stuffed Pineapples and Tree Fruit I'd accumulated to fill the empty machines. That was not a lot of effort.

I check Ginger once or twice a week, it's mostly Tree Fruit now so its value is in the colors, not the gathering.

This leaves me with many empty days to do Fun Things, in order of importance:

Sandy's Birthday
Festivals
Qi Quest Skull Cavern run (for fun not profit)
Qi Quest Mine run (for fun not profit)
Volcano run (for fun not profit)
Lucky Day Skull Cavern run for Treasure Rooms (for treeeeeaaaayyyyyzzzzhhhurrrrrrreee!

)

and more recently:
relatively Lucky Day Ginger Beach Treasure Totem Buried Pirate Treasure Dig for Rare Shirts and Golden Coconuts

That needs a more concise name. Hmmm…

Bobbi's Beach Coco Bongo

mmm, much better.