Activity pursued in addition to another activity, and often considered less important than it; temporary diversion undertaken for various reasons, with various goals.
"Rather than loitering around, day by day, some prefer to crawl out of the shadow of their squirrel cage and try badly to cuddle up to a brighter side of life by searching out some wiggle room to empower their feeble stance, expecting to eke out some soothing moments of relish and buoyancy in the wings of their expectant quest." -- Erik Pevernagie
In real life, a side quest (from roleplaying games' sidequest) can be undertaken to promote well-being, be it emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, or even fiscal. Side quests can also be used as a distraction from a main goal, including detrimentally. If the latter, such endeavors can be termed cyberslacking, time-wasting, procrastination, or even emotional regulation failure. More positively, substituting the phrase "side quest" for the word "chore" can add a certain amount of mystery and adventure to one's everyday existence. Much like saying, I leveled up, instead of, I'm a year older. Being Level 58 does sound cooler than being 58 years old, now doesn't it? (Whether or not if one is a deadline-driven procrastinator or a task-driven person, or both.)
SQ '24