Rolling the dice for life lessons from a game of Monopoly

I turn 20 in just over three months and my partner just yesterday taught me how to play Monopoly.

I do not yet have a strategy, and my patience often runs thin because my opponent has so much more experience than me, but I take interest in the game because of the difference in choices between players. Life is quite like the treasured, age-old board game.

We buy property and pay mortgages, stay in hotels and/or have to pay rent fees; we land on spaces that might not necessarily be in our favour, and we stress about landing on those spaces at the wrong time.

No matter the game, there is no strategy to rolling the dice, and you must surrender your play to chance. Life, on the other hand, allows for some wiggle room. For the experiences in your life, whether you realize it or not, are largely based on the premises of the people you meet, and the passions you indulge in.

There is a lot to be said about those who get offended if you have to end a friendship because of a difference in values, but it is important to acknowledge that you are not the one with the issue for realizing what you know truly about yourself. If you have to separate yourself from a person or multiple people because you have come to terms with what you deserve in trust, intellectual stimulation, and dependence, and they were not giving that to you, you aren’t doing anything wrong. If they cannot appreciate your own self care, they don’t deserve to say they ever tried to care for you.

If there’s anything I have learned from bouncing around five different high schools - just to graduate with integrity from being struck with cancer just before the beginning of the secondary school process - it’s that you have to know yourself well enough to choose the right people to have in your life. And as my life continues to move forward, this lesson proves itself more and more each day.

Quality over quantity.

So why the Monopoly analogy? There are several reasons for this.

Maybe I thought the well-known game would bring you in nicely to yet another wisdom-filled, written epiphany of mine, which, really feels like a public diary for me and is very therapeutic.

Maybe it was the way my partner moved so skillfully across the board, and we laughed at my failure, with the mountains in view just outside our window, that I realized I was spending my time right, and with care.

Maybe I just wanted to connect with you all a little more, reminding you that even though all our lives are separate, we’re all in this life together.

Four days ago my parents renewed their vows after 20 years of strong and compassionate marriage, and the commissioner (who was actually their original marriage commissioner), spoke softly a very powerful phrase that stood out to me. He said: “in front of us here today, are two people, but only one life.” And it couldn’t ring more true.

We are constantly moving through life’s cycle of events, only picking apart the differences between one another, when really it’s the similarities we should be seeking out.

Think about any struggle between countries. Between states or provinces. Governments. People. Narrow it all the way down to complete and utter simplicity.

The world is arguing through a megaphone, and everyone can feel the vibrations.

So why don’t we all sit down and play life like Monopoly. Pay our bills and do our deeds, but respect all the experiences had along the way, and acknowledge that everyone has a different life experience.

As I always say, I do not believe in regret, because whatever you have done, - whatever people you have met, things you have said, - it has all led you to here.

And here, the present, is the most wonderful place you can be.