The other night, I was babysitting and the girls decided to play a round of The Game of Life. Now, I haven't played this game in a while so it was kind of like going back in time for me. One thing that I found shocking was how the game creates kind of an ideal life plan for us. You go to college or you work, get married, have a child, pay taxes, buy a home, and even lose money due to disasters.

This kind of makes you think about what this game is teaching the younger generations. A lot of times we have this ideal plan for ourselves. We think that by following this plan, life goes off without a hitch. However, we sometimes forget to account for the notion that life is just that, life.

When we're younger, we constantly think about the future. Where do you want to go when you're older? Do you want to get married? What do you want to be when you grow up? Will you own a pet?

But in recent months, I've come to the conclusion that we are all a part of our own game, the Game of Life.

Much like the popular board game, we're all just trying to figure ourselves out by hoping that by rolling the dice, one of these times we'll be given some direction. The object of a board game is to win, something we all can attest to want in life itself. We all want to win happiness, something that doesn't always come easy.

Life, both this game and actual life, is hard because you never know what's going to happen. You never know when that wheel is going to spin and you have to face a new obstacle. Whether it be a new place, a new task, a new school or university, a tragedy, or even a new face, it's a situation that you have to handle. It's unexpected and it's stressful, sad, happy, frustrating, and beautiful all at the same time.

A lot of times, these unexpected events can really change our perspectives on certain things. I like to say that we never stop growing. You take something from each and every situation or person that comes into your life. It could be something as small as learning to read carefully so that you don't start a pointless fight, to something as larger scale as learning to not let people walk all over you.

Like I said, this game that we're all playing involves us making new connections with all sorts of people. Some of these connections will be long lasting, and some of them won't be. It's just the way it is.

However, although all of our individual games are interconnected, that doesn't mean you get to become just someone's piece in their game. Learning to not give people control over your emotions and your own happiness is something we all constantly struggle with. It's important to remember that you deserve to be more than just an influenced, disposable piece in someone's game. You're original and don't let anyone try to conform you into something that you're not. Don't let people use you, you're better than that.

In the end of the game, it doesn't matter how many degrees you have, what job you have, how many homes you own, or even how much money you have, the only thing that matters is everything you've taken away from the game.

I will always be the first to admit that this game of life isn't easy, but we're privileged to play it.

George Carlin once said, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

Hearts will be broken, stress will try to crumble you, life will get you down. But just remember that the pain means that you're living your life to the fullest extent. You're feeling everything, and isn't that better than feeling nothing at all?

This is the game of life, full of twists and turns. And I don't know about you, but I plan to play it to its full extent because if not, what else do we have?