Candyland

There are not many days where I feel like crawling under a rock and hiding, but today was definitely one of those days.  I don’t think days ever really start off that way, they just get progressively worse and worse from the moment you wake up :/ 

As college students (rather, everybody), I think we hit these days more often than we’d like to admit.  We just have so much on our minds- constantly thinking about to-do lists, pleasing people, our futures, money.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought that the outcome of all of our hard work and dedication towards those things is supposed to lead to happiness on some level.  Tell me then, what happens when you hit the days where everything seems to be falling to pieces, and you have no idea where you are going or what it is that will make you happy?

 I sometimes don’t like these tricky games that God plays on us.  Sure, the games teach you lessons (and don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful for all of them), but how many times do we have to learn the exact same lesson over and over again?

 I like games where you have at least some control over your chance of winning.  Poker or Farkle, for instance.  Unlike Candyland, where your results rely on random cards that you have no control over, you get to choose your strategy.  I feel like even when we try to choose and strategize this game we call “life”, it ends up becoming a game of Candyland instead.  You’re on that colorfully square life path, chasing after something that you thought was going to make you extremely happy.  But then, all of a sudden…..BAM!  You’re sent back to Plumpy or that creepy peppermint stick clown.  When you draw those cards you know there’s no chance of making it to that ice cream castle before anyone else.   You have a 7% chance of meeting King Kandy, so all you can do is hope that the sugarplum queen will save you.  At that point in the game I usually kick the board about a foot and start cursing under my breath, giving nasty looks to anyone peering my way.  Everyone gets mad (or extremely sarcastic because they know I am going to lose), leaving me with a feeling of defeat, and the cleanup of ugly plastic men and stacks of rectangular cards.  It is then that I secretly crease the corners of all the bad cards so I know which ones to avoid for future games ;)

I wish I could bend and crease all of my life’s cards so I know when the terribleness hits. I could avoid all of those disappointments and frustrations and jump on that easy path to ice cream happiness.  Then again, I wonder how much I would hate a game of such simplicity.  No decisions to make whatsoever.  Playing the game of Candyland wouldn’t ever be fair because of the cards you draw, but you would have the opportunity to control your attitude on how you dealt with each turn.  That, and I think not knowing what lies beneath each card helps one better understand the idea of hope.  More importantly, what it is like to embody that feeling of hope.  

Maybe I’ll stick with Candyland for now. 

Who wants to join me for a game?