Do you want to play a game?

You already are...

I love playing Cluedo, cards, Munchin, etc. I like these games because they have a clearly defined start and end, and when it’s over and somebody is declared a winner, you can start all over again, clean slate, and see who wins the next round.

But these are just one type of games. There are others.

There are those mind games you play with others, when you want to manipulate them. I don’t like those.

Then there are the games you play romantically. Boy, they are exhausting. And have a lot of rules.

And then there is the actual Game of Life.

This game also have a lot of rules. Some of them are written down as laws, others as guidelines, but most exist solely as tacit knowledge, as a sort of Code of Conduct in whatever society you live in.

This Code of Conduct has many, many facets and it is constantly changing.Nobody knows exactly what it contains.

I don’t particularly like this Game of Life. Games are by nature often won by chance - by getting that ace or rolling that six.

In the Game of Life, you’re playing a game, where you don’t know the rules because they keep on changing, and where your level of success is largely decided by chance.

I don’t want my life to be decided by chance and ruled by uncertainty. Because if you don’t know the rules, how do you decide who wins? You can’t. Which means that in a way no one wins. We all lose.*

If it’s all a game of chance, and we all eventually lose, what’s the point of it all? Why even bother following the rules?

Because we humans are made of awesome and dipped in hope. We believe against all odds, that we will the ones to succeed. That happiness does lie before us.

It’s this undying optimism that I find inspiring.

Also, it’s an unspoken rule that all rules that aren’t written, are allowed to be broken. So go ahead and break a few of those unspoken rules.

Also, don't focus on winning the game. Focus on playing the right game.


* I’ve written about that before.