⚠ Warning! It’s really long. Been working on this for months now. You’ve been warned.
At the end of this article, you should install a tetris game on your phone 😅 (I attached the link to the one I play).
If you’re a 90s kid like me or even older then at some point in your childhood, this game is all you wanted to play. We didn’t really understand it at first, or at least I didn’t, and that’s what made me play it more. And by the time I did understand it, I became even more obsessed with it. I played it on my TV at home, on my Grandparents’ TV whenever we visited and on that lil. plastic arcade game device (I don’t know what it’s called now, let me know in the comments).
Anyway, I have stopped obsessing over the game. I play it now and then when I remember it. And it’s just a really great game to play.
This article is going to talk about the life lessons the game teaches. I don’t know if the creator(s) of the game had these lessons in mind but I think they created a master piece. And if you’re a parent reading this right now and you’re worried about the danger graphic video games pose to your children, I strongly recommend Tetris and several other arcade games. It will not only keep your children from the violence and indecency of today’s video games, it’ll also develop their IQ (Intelligence Quotient), their mental processing abilities and as you’ll see in this article, their EI (Emotional Intelligence) as well.
1. So, here’s the first lesson – LIFE IS IN STAGES: I guess this one isn’t unique to Tetris, all games have levels and the higher you climb, the difficult it gets. In Tetris though, the increase in difficulty comes as:
– Increase in the speed of the game per level;
– Little or no access to blocks you really need; and
– Too much access to blocks you don’t need.
At first, these difficulties are really frustrating and it makes you want to give up. But then, you’ll notice that as you keep playing, you get better at one stage and the experience you gain from that stage, you apply to the next stage, and on and on and on. However, if you give up on the first stage, you never make it pass that stage.
In life, you grow in stages too. And in each stage you face different challenges. But it is as you defeat those challenges through consistency and persistence and learning from mistakes that you become capable of handling the next stage and the next and the next.
Many of us don’t give up on video games, I’m sure. In fact, not getting a hang of it makes us angrier and eager to play it more. So my question to you (especially generation z) is, why do you give up on life and your goals and dreams?!
If you keep at it you’ll pass that stage.
2. LIFE WON’T ALWAYS GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT: Now, if you have never played this game (wow, just wow) this is how Tetris works; the system deals you different shapes of blocks at different speeds and you have to keep arranging them in such a way that you keep having straight lines without holes in them. When you make a perfect straight line, it disappears and that’s how the game keeps going. If your blocks touch the roof of your screen, it’s game over.
(I was trying to say as little as possible but I hope you get the picture…. Just go install the game).
Now, the different types of blocks I say represent the different hands that life deals us. Sometimes they really fit together making beautiful straight lines and other times, it’s chaos. Yeah, that’s just life, it’s how it is, ups and downs, it doesn’t happen to you alone! Know this and know peace.
And that leads me to the next lesson.
3. USE EVERYTHING LIFE GIVES YOU, GOOD OR BAD: After playing Tetris for over 20years, I realized that you don’t always have to have perfect blocks to win. You can set each block in the right place in preparation of the one you really need. And when the one you really need comes, you have multiple wins.
For me, and I think most people too, it’s usually that long block. And when I notice it’s not coming, I keep putting my pieces in place, anticipating. Immediately it comes, I just drop it where I have prepared for it and immediately, like 5 lines clear.
Now, life can be hard sometimes, dealing you things you don’t need and keeping the things you need away. Don’t worry, use what you have. Learn that lesson. Build that network or friendship. Take that course. Get that degree. Learn that handwork. Take that volunteering job. Take that 5k job and that 10k job, do that ushering work. I know, na 5million naira breakthrough you need, don’t worry, it’s okay, it’ll come, and when it comes all the little things you’ve built will suddenly be multiplied into returns.
And even if 5million or that real huge breakthrough doesn’t come, the things you’ve learnt, experiences you’ve gathered, networks and friendships you’ve built can help you build your own million dollar company. Every bad hand life seems to deal you, has a little blessing inside, you may not see it now, just keep playing, keep living.
4. PATIENCE IS A NEEDED VIRTUE: I wouldn’t say much here but, without patience, you can’t do lesson 3.
People say the patient dog doesn’t get the fattest bone “these days” and I often laugh at that statement because, in the first place, the bone Mr. A needs is different from the bone Mrs. B needs. Mr. A’s purpose is different from Mrs. B’s purpose. So, if Mr. A gets a fat bone in the wrong place, he/she didn’t really get anything. However, if Mrs. B gets what looks like a small bone to Mr. A, but it’s in her purpose, she will flourish and live a more fulfilling life than Mr. A.
I hope I haven’t confused you. This is what I’m saying,
– That saying assumes we’re all in the same cage or the same breeds of dogs and that’s just wrong.
– Money is not everything and it is definitely not success. And success cannot be generalized. You are meant to be and do something, it’s why you were born, succeed at that and then you can say you have succeeded.
– Comparison blinds: To explain this, I would share a personal story (without the details). So, last year Mr. A gave me a nice gift – B. And 5 years ago Mr. C gave me another nice gift – D. I recently used gift D from Mr. C and thought, Mr. A hasn’t even given me that type of gift before and I almost got bitter. Until, I remembered, oh, Mr. A has given me gift B and that’s equally as nice, if not nicer.
See what happened? Because of comparison, I forgot about what I already had.
5. Finally, perhaps the most important lesson of all, YOU NEED GOD: I know what you’re thinking, how does God fit into an article about Tetris? Well, if you have installed the game, you’ll see on the right or left side of the screen, the system always shows you what stage you’re on and what piece of block is coming next.
Yup! I say, that’s what God does for the ones who observe and listen to him. He shows them where they’re at and what’s coming so they can prepare. Now, the system doesn’t show the next 10 blocks, only one. And sometimes God doesn’t always show us the full picture either.
I said it like this in 2019, “God shows us Z to get us excited, puts us at A and says trust me for B to Y. And, a childish fellow might be mad at that but the thing is, when you’re done with A, HE WILL SHOW YOU B AND TAKE YOU THERE. And on and on. So, why the rush, why the fuss?
I don’t know who owns the Tetris IP, maybe Sony. But they didn’t pay me for this. I just thought you might need this. And shared it for free.
Let me end like this; somebody once said, “Trouble is inevitable but misery is optional”. And to me that means, how you feel about yourself and life is totally up to you. You can choose to feel like a billion pounds or like the current value of the Russian currency, it’s really up to you.
But know this, those who master their emotions master life and win at it.
Have a great weekend 😊😘
