Life is a difficult game. It’s filled with many rules and these rules keep changing. And not everyone plays by the rules. Some people twist the rules, exploiting loopholes that go against the spirit of the already difficult game. We think we start off on equal footing. We don’t.
Round and round we go this undefined game board, picking up pieces and engaging in innumerable rolls of the dice. We interact with the other players, but it’s unclear whether they are our teammates or our opponents. Are we working toward a common goal? Or are we racing to the finish line? And therein lies a fundamental flaw in how most of us, myself included, have chosen to approach this game of life.
Keeping Score and Taking the Lead
We think of life as a game of winners and losers. We think of life as a zero sum game where one person must lose for another to win. We think of life like Risk, taking calculated gambles to amass property. We think of life like Monopoly, building our empires so we can bankrupt those around us. We think of life like Hungry Hungry Hippos, never satisfied with how many marbles we’ve consumed, always striving to get one more ball before the other people sitting at the table can get at it first.
It doesn’t have to be this way. It shouldn’t have to be this way.
Most of us would like to have the finer things in life. Given the option, we’d rather be living in Park Place or Boardwalk than be slumming it on Baltic Avenue. We lust after the hottest cars, the coolest gadgets, and the biggest house, sometimes at the expense of those around us.
These may be nice things, but they don’t mean very much if you don’t have the right people joining you on the journey. And these relationships should be forged on mutual respect and altruism.
Playing the Difficult Game
As cliche as it may sound, it really isn’t about winning or losing, especially when you force someone to lose in order for you win. We need to work more toward win-win situations where we can all benefit. We need to work more toward how we choose to play this difficult game with one another, rather than against one another.
Life is a team sport. And while some people may not play by the rules or they may step on others to get ahead, you can only reliably focus on how you choose to play this game… and who you choose to play with. That’s how you win. That’s how everyone wins.
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