Life Like Chess

Being a psychotherapist and life coach, I'm constantly faced with choices about life. Mind you, both for my patients and myself, they're not easy. 

Life can be a dangerous game. Issues can be a matter of life or death, victory or defeat. 

My patients or clients are like me. Most likely, you too. A few times in my life, I tried to run away from "adulting." I hated discomfort. I didn't like responsibility. Or, delaying gratification. 

Yet in my attempts to escape the appropriate developmental tasks of my age, I experienced delays in my psychological maturity. I suffered the bad effects of my decisions. Life got unnecessarily harder.

In the game of chess, choices are crucial. Your chosen moves will determine the ensuing positions you'll be in on the way to the game's completion. 

All the moves you make in chess are your responsibility. Only you can choose the moves you make. Your opponent or anyone else can't make those moves for you. 

In chess as in life, you can move forward or you can retreat backward. They're ever-present options and choices. 

Of course, there are times when you need to move backward. Retreat, regroup, recharge. But the call is always to move on - both in life and in chess.

I was speaking to a 50-year-old woman not too long ago about her lingering poverty. All her life, she chose to be a hard-working employee. And yet she still lived with bare minimum subsistence. 

In the course of my conversations with her, she discovered a passion that she can turn into profit. She finally made a choice to change moves, especially her mindset. Sooner than she expected, she became a rich online entrepreneur.

Again, in life as in chess, we go for a "win." We can choose to do that with each move or decision we make.