Breaking The Habit

There comes a time when men have to choose between a life of happiness and a life of meaning. Coincidentally both path leads down different routes and having both is certainly not a common occurrence. A life of happiness means one will remain oblivious to the truth and only live as how others live thus the abstract definition of “being happy.” A life of meaning defines and portrays itself as something ugly, hard to swallow but in exchange offers you answers, strengths, and truth in every aspect of life (sometimes even power.) Much like life, Yugioh is no different when you apply those points and relate it to what you see or know. The question everyone asks themselves is the same even though it is not spoken out. “Why do I play this game?”, “What do I want?” no matter how you put it is undeniably similar to one and other.

I am not implying that we cannot have both but in reality not many have that resolve they need to continue the journey to a point where they can see a picture of both happiness and meaning in it. The fact is to be able to live a life of happiness yet pursue one’s purpose in his or her time on Earth is not as simple as words can describe (most give up without realizing it.) To relate this subject to Yugioh, everyone knows there are casual players and competitive ones. The difference is casual ones play the game under the logic of pure entertainment while a competitive player aims to find success and a higher meaning while playing the same game (both type are “enjoying” the game in their own definition.) Naturally, if you want to be skillful and strong it is hard to see the path of happiness due to the difficult circumstances you put yourself in order to achieve success and improvement. There will always be higher mountains to climb and tougher opponents to beat.

“When you ask you shall be answered”, that line is as simple as it gets. In the pursuit of improvement one has to ask the necessary questions and face the ugly truth. No one is immediately good at what they do (unless you are a genius) and everyone starts from being a “noob”, “jimmy”, or whatever floats your boat. The learning process is unavoidable if one chooses to walk the “path of meaning” and being able to face the ugly truth is a part of it. The truth that you suck, what you are doing is wrong, and you are not as good as you think you are. Human beings are afraid of failure but what many do not understand is it is from failure that we learn and find success. We all know we need to try and fail before succeeding but problem is not many have that kind of balls to go through the shame and humiliation. Once you are able to admit and accept that reality of yourself the whole process of improvement becomes easier to absorb (learn from your losses and mistakes.) Truth is life is easier when everyone is honest.

Victory and defeat is a natural part of any game. You cannot expect to win every game you play. Having said that, every game has a built in luck factor as well. The “habit” I am referring to is the idea that instead of analyzing your losses and pinpointing the mistakes you made one chooses to think that their losses is a cause of an uncontrollable variable. Yes, I am talking about those times when people complain about how broken their opponent open with or how their opponent top decks [insert broken card name here]. Sure, insanely overpowered cards and lucky top decks exist but it is hardly the cause (of course Yugioh happens from time to time.) I was one of those players until I realize how unproductive and meaningless it was to blame my losses on factors that couldn’t be helped compared to analyzing my own plays. I began asking the necessary questions, “would things have gone the other way if I played differently?”, “was that the optimal move to play?”, “should I have done that instead of this?” The more I asked the more I gained and eventually I broke that “habit” of pointing fingers on variable X. 

So, too long didn’t read. Stop going around in a tailspin of blame and excuses. Understand this, once you begin the tailspin it’s as if you lose your footing and it feels impossible to stand but the only reason the situation seems insurmountable is because you make it out to be (the psychological aspect is that big.) Once you decide that it’s all in your head the ground will solidify under your feet. Your decision to put mind over matter is one of the most difficult things and I had to "realistically" dedicate myself to grasp it (not sure how many times I killed myself in the process of achieving enlightenment LOL!) I am not going to sugarcoat anything it is difficult to achieve but the results you experience is as powerful as it sounds. Start analyzing and asking the right questions if you seek to be a better player and understand that there will always be a reason behind everything. Sometimes it could be Yugioh happening, other times it was you who caused it. Do not avoid the necessary questions instead embrace them and who knows maybe one day you might see yourself in the finals of World Championships. In other words, be the change you want to see. I am not sure if this article made any sense but I do hope it has been helpful and informative. Remember to play smart, fight hard, or go home a loser. Thank you for reading!