Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Leveling Up in Life

So this concept has been floating around my brain for weeks, maybe even months- Looking for its escape route out of my mind. So I hope I can do it justice.

Do you ever wonder or feel as if we are just playing pieces in one big game? What if we are the SIMS in SIMS100 being played 100 years from now by some kid enamored by the life we live? Or if you are religious or spiritual, are we all just playing pieces in one big game?

The goal in the game isn't to get to the end. Or to win. Because really, there is no winning or ending. The point is that you keep leveling up. The point is that you keep showing up to play.

What if your whole concept of reality was actually just you as the player, and everyone that you know or have done has been placed in your game as something or someone that will show you something, give you a blue, teach you a lesson (good or bad), give you something, or lift you up when your battery is almost dead? These are all strategic items placed in the game of you, the game of me, the game of all of us. We're all playing our own game. There are obstacles and challenges put in our way for a reason, to challenge us to think in different ways to unlock new keys to level up. If you've ever played a video game, there has always been that time where you tried everything you can think of and nothing, NOTHING is working- The game must have a glitch or something because you cannot find the answer in order to get to the next level. So you take a break from the game. You go about your life, unplug and then BAM! You think of a way that just might work and you do it and you Level up! Don't you feel a sense of immense accomplishment!?

There are an infinite number of levels in each one of our games, and the beauty and fun of it all is that we will never know how many levels there are yet to go until we reach the top. And the top is also different for everyone. But at the top, we feel a sense of fulfillment and no regrets as we leave the game. My hope is that we get to look back on all the steps and all the levels and get to review all of our accomplishments and hardships and know we rocked it all. We learned. And then we get to play again, as a new player, this time with a different set of circumstances.

What do I mean by levels? I've been thinking a lot about that too.  We might never truly know if we hit a "level up" as there are no fancy lights or music that will go off above your head when we hit a new level, but that has to come from within your heart. If you listen to your own self, you'll feel it in your heart when you've leveled up. For example, think about someone who is in a level- and in that level she gets up every morning and doesn't like her body she sees in the mirror. So she begins to change. She shows up for herself, she eats the right food and does the workouts. But she doesn't feel like much else has changed yet. She looks up to the game controller and says OKAY, I'm doing the hard work, where is my level up?!  The game controller looks down and shakes his/her head and says, nope, not yet. Determined the girl keeps showing up and keeps doing the hard work. And after doing a lot of soul searching, daily affirmations and gratitude, she finally one day looks in the mirror and begins to see herself for not what her body is- but what it can do. Who she is inside, what she brings to the table, her skills, what her body is capable of. And then she hears the music go off because she found the golden key to get past that level of body acceptance. She twisted that key in her mind to level up into a place where she loves herself no matter what, no matter what size or weight.

I think we are all in a different level, and they aren't in any particular order for all of us, we are all playing a different game and we are all playing at a different pace. So don't compare what level you are on to someone you know that you feel is on a much higher level. Because comparing yourself to anything or anyone certainly won't get that level key unlocked.

Maybe the level you are on right now is in your work. Maybe you've been trying and trying, clawing your way to a promotion and doing all of the right things, but still can't seem to reach that golden key after months, maybe even years of searching. Then one day you come to a revelation that you are enough no matter what. No matter what job you have or what salary you make, none of it matters. What matters is you, are you happy? When you can finally break free of that mindset and start doing what makes you happy, maybe it is then that you level up.

Maybe it's not all one consecutive string of levels like levels 1-100 for each player, but perhaps we can level up in categories. Maybe there are branches, family, relationship, work, self awareness, self development, self purpose, where we can level up in each area. What are those branches like for you? What level are you on in each of those branches? Are you at level 50 in work but level 2 with your relationships? Or are you level 42 in your relationship but level 1 with self awareness and self purpose? Where can you put part of your game on hold while you explore parts of yourself that you want to level up?

Don't spend your whole life stuck in level one. Level one is easy. You can coast through an expert in level one but never progressing to level 2 but you will never feel challenged, fulfillment, satisfaction, achievement. If you are not feeling any or all of those things right now then where can you level up? 

Thank you,

The New Motherboard