It’s not if you win or lose; it’s how you play the game.
Good news. You’ve made the team. You’ve been picked. You’ve secured your spot in the game of life. You are up at bat, but remember, “It’s not if you win or lose; it’s how you play the game.”
This familiar sports reference comes to me in the middle of the night. It makes me think of words like strategy, doing your best, and having fun. Words and ideas that are essential to enjoying the game of life and align well with the saying, 'It’s about the journey, not the destination.'"
I couldn’t stop thinking about the sports reference all day. I reflected on how our game of life can feel so serious at times—so much so that it seems like the exact opposite of how a game should feel: fun, enjoyable, exciting, and invigorating.
I get it. I understand that life is often filled with serious moments. I recognize that much happens in a lifetime that is pretty serious; I’ve been there. I’ve watched life throw me curveball after curveball, feeling like I was in the bottom of the ninth with no chance of a comeback. I’ve been in that place where the hard times, the down times, and the challenges seemed like they couldn’t be anything other than what they were. But when I started to take the saying, “It's not whether you win or lose; it’s how you play the game,” to heart, the game began to change.
Viewing our lives like a game - something to experience and enjoy - puts us in the ready position.
If we see the hard times, down times, and challenges as moments that will exist in our lives regardless, why not change the way we look at them? If we shift our mindset, even just a little bit, we can focus on how we go through our lives instead of fixating on the outcome. With a shift in our mindset, we support ourselves rather than stress ourselves out even more.
How do we do it?
In comes strategy. How do we harness our full potential and use it in this realm if we don’t have a strategy?
What if our strategy in the game of life were to try our best and have as much fun as possible? It may seem too simple and obvious to be a real strategy, but it’s a solid one that will never steer us wrong. Trying our very best and having fun keeps us focused on something we can actually control: the quality of our efforts.
If we adopt the strategy of trying our best and having fun, we can let go of the outcome with more ease. As we endure hard times, down times, and challenges, we can feel good about our efforts when we know that we tried our best. In this state of mind, it becomes much easier to view a strikeout as a worthwhile experience rather than a failure. We feel proud and resilient, and how we feel about ourselves is incredibly important. It becomes a major factor in enjoying our lives. It ripples out into our work and extends to our loved ones. Most importantly, practicing this strategy keeps us in a steady place that’s ready for anything that comes our way.
So, friends, play the best game of your life because you only get one. Play with excitement, willingness, and joy; try your absolute best, and have fun. You’ve got one chance to be on this team, in this life, in this exact form. Since there is no promise of tomorrow and no known score at the end of the game, play an extraordinary game with an open heart.
That’s the win.
Hi, I’m Sara Rose.
Explore my blog to uncover the extraordinary transformations hidden in everyday moments.
