If Life Is A Game, Should We Stop Playing It?

Every next level of your life will demand a different you — Leonardo DiCaprio

The other day I was talking to a guy I have known for a while and he said — marriage is a game and not sure if he is ready to play it. It made me think and wonder, isn’t LIFE itself a game and we still play it. Some time we win and some time we lose, but never stop playing it.

There is no one hundred percent certainty or guarantee on things in life and in general unless or until we try. How much we try to control the game of life, life will always throw a curve ball. It’s up to us how we want to take it up and process it eventually.

I reminded me of an article I read some time back and it’s about the Problem with Men. And it had this line: ‘life is not a race, it’s not a game, and it’s not a fight’. The problem, the writer suggested that, was men are attached to the wrong metaphor for life.

He actually preferred ‘life is a dance’ — that frames life in a non-competitive and in an open way.

So does treating life like a game necessarily empty it of meaning and moral value? It depends what game you’re playing and how are you playing it.

And when you can create games which are that absorbing and immersive, you can start to see this world as a game, a virtual reality. If you have watched the Netflix show — Social Dilemma, we’re actually living in a virtual simulation, created by humans. If you have watched the movie — you may relate to it.

“Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.” — Oscar Wilde

I’ve found myself thinking this more and more over the last couple of days, and I’m not sure if it’s healthy or not. Is it unhealthy, this tendency to view life as a virtual reality game?

It could be. You can start to see everything and everyone as fake.

I can let go of fear and anxiety and craving — the fear of failure, the fear of ageing and sickness and suffering and death. It’s just a game, and we have multiple lives.

We can try out multiple ways of living, in fact, we already have. And if we wake up to the game, we can let go of some of the more boring and obvious missions, accrue a lot of money and glory, and get into some of the deeper and more interesting missions.

How do we level up? Who is the programmer — is it us? Can we change the code or upgrade it as per our need and want?

If you know you’re dreaming, can you continue to dream? That’s what the soul does — the soul appreciates that it’s a dream and that it contains the ego.

If you push away the ego, if you cultivate an aversion to that dream, you’re never going to be free because there will be an attachment. The process is realizing that you and I exist on more than one plane of awareness simultaneously and on one plane suffering stinks, and on another plane suffering is grace. The question is, “Can you balance those two things in your consciousness?”

Life doesn’t have to be stale. We can confront reality the same way as we do in the virtual world. In fact, we live better when we approach life like a game.

Banish Your Fear Of Failure

“Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street” — Zig Ziglar

Have you ever been defeated in a game and declared that it was the end of you? Probably not. That would be nonsense. You keep playing it just to think, one time you are going to win but you don’t know when.

Yet in life, we often do that. As we grow up and become attuned to social norms and conventions, we develop a fear of failure. This fear of failure becomes etched into us — some regrettably never overcome this fear altogether and spend the duration of their time on earth without having lived at all.

Why the difference in the manner in which we approach life and gaming? The answer is that we understand we can always restart and try again at overcoming the obstacle before us. However, that too is true of life — we can always recover after each defeat.

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm” — Winston Churchill

While the stakes are certainly higher in reality than in the virtual world, the optimal strategy is still the one we use in games.

You Are In Control

If there is only one thing you can take away from this, know this — YOU are in firm control of your life.

The game of life is the biggest and most important game you will ever play. You dictate your own narrative and decide the path you are going to take.

There is no ‘win’ condition. You are the main character in your own story — how far you go is all up to you.

“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” — William Ernest Henley

A game remains fun only because it excites us and continues to be a fun filled experience. The same can be said of life — we must design it in such a way that we are committed and deeply involved every single day.

Begin your own quest.

Take the road less travelled.

Explore and experiment without fear of repercussions.

Do what has never been done before. Live life on YOUR OWN terms.

Above all, remember to ENJOY the game of life. And You are going to WIN it in your own way.

Be Bold

Be Courageous

Be Your Best

Story Source: https://constantrenewal.com/approach-life-like-a-game/