It's funny how one tiny, seemingly boring change can make such a big difference in your life. A very tiny thing happened to me recently, that made my life better in other, bigger ways.
I got bored the other night, and was wasting time playing solitaire on the computer while watching videos. But I got bored with solitaire, so I tried playing Hearts on the computer instead. The way Hearts works is, you try on each hand not to get the "bad luck" cards, and the person with the least amount of points wins the game. But if you get all of the "bad luck" cards (or "shoot the moon," as it's called), then you get zero points and the three other people (or in this case, the computer) each get twenty-six points.
I didn't really like playing Hearts, since I almost always lost. But then I thought, "Well, if I'm always losing, then I should at least try to shoot the moon every time."
I did, and it became fun, after that. It didn't matter that I lost more times than not, because I was always chasing the feeling I got when I punished my imaginary opponents. The game was no longer about winning or losing, but trying to shoot the moon as many times as I could.
And I won more hands than I honestly thought I would. Even if I thought I would never shoot the moon, I sometimes managed to, even against the odds.
That got me to thinking. It was something very small, but maybe I could make other things in my life into games, even if I don't punish anyone with these games like I punished my opponents in Hearts. With that attitude, I became more productive at work literally overnight (and hopefully this will eventually translate into more money for cat food and other fun stuff). I had more energy, and it didn't feel so much like work. The game was to try as many times, and as "big" as I could, to be successful---not necessarily to just get the work done.
I sometimes worry about falling on hard times, but a lot of people put themselves into hard times on purpose, in order to pursue something they love. If something happens and I lose my job, why not be the kind of person who works during the day at whatever job they find, then goes to auditions or tries to sell their art or writing at night and on days off? If I could manage to do that, that wouldn't be so bad, I suppose (though for now I'm grateful for the job I currently have).
I made my job into a game, and now I'm trying to think of other ways in which I can try to do something big (at least to me). I might lose, or not get to do what I would like to, but that's not really my focus. I'm going to try to have fun trying (as soon as I think of something to try!).
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