Been There, Done With That: Letting Go of Yesterday's Game
Your 3 minute SPARK* to Happier
STORY/PICTURE:
I’d like to say that I start my day with yoga or a 2-mile run - but, um, no. I’m only that disciplined in my dreams, or on January 2nd of pretty much every year.
I do, however, wake up my brain every day with the New York Times app: Wordle, the Crossword, and something called Spelling Bee.
In Spelling Bee, you try to form as many words as you can, using only the seven letters provided each day. It’s fun, you can leave it and come back with a new perspective if you feel like it, and no one posts their results on facebook. So, a triple win.
One thing I also used to love about this is that you couldn't go back to yesterday’s game once the new one had posted. Your only choice was to view yesterday’s answers and see how many words you missed (or sometimes never even heard of). I really liked that. There was no option to keep playing. Yesterday was done, time to move on.
Then - they changed the app! Now you can keep playing old games, if you haven’t clicked on “reveal”.....No!!! Don’t tempt me to go back to yesterday! SuddenlyI had to click twice to let go of the past. “Play yesterday’s game?” “Reveal?” “Are you sure?” Ugh yes! But too many clicks, and I’d begin to doubt my happy decision to move on from yesterday.
Well, I wasn’t the only one, because within a week the app had been revised to make it easier and quicker to reveal the answers from the past. Still, I kind of resent having to confirm that I’m moving on to today, thank you very much. Yesterday’s mistakes, missed opportunities to find words and be the Queen Bee? Gone. Move on.
And so it is in life. Are you still playing yesterday’s game? Have you ever gone back to an old job, a past love, the city you used to live in - and realized it no longer was today’s game? If it feels wrong (and it often does, after the familiarity wears off), it’s time to let go. Been there, done that, moving on.
Action Step: Take a good look at something from your past that you are holding onto, and ask the hard question: Is this right for me today, now, at this point in my life?
Maybe the answer is yes. Maybe you have changed, or the situation is better, or you weren’t really done after all - like, possibly, Carrie and Aiden in And Just Like That.
Or - maybe not. Notice how it feels to go back to yesterday and revisit the challenges you thought you were done with.
Resources to go deeper:
The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle
Throw Out 50 Things, Gail Blanke
Kickass Quote: “To let yourself fly, you gotta let go. Play today’s game.”
*What's in a SPARK?
Story
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Action Step
Resources
Kickass Quote
