What I learnt from Farm Heroes Saga Stage 457 !

 

I am a mobile games fanatic. I have thoroughly engrossed myself at every point with some game or the other. It has become a bedtime ritual for many years now. Starting from the Tetris and snake games on the Symbian operating system to Angry Birds, Temple Run, Subway Surfer, Candy Crush Saga, or Farm Heroes Saga on the Android operating system. These games happened to help me get peace of mind before I slept. However, this addiction will one day give me a life lesson, is something I never expected. It may sound silly. Nevertheless, it is true.

When I started playing Farm Heroes Saga the only intention was fun and result of my addiction to mobile games. The initial levels were quite easy to complete. As I played further, the complexity and difficulty increased. However, I managed to surpass the 456 stages in a span of 7 months. Not a good record though. It was time to conquer the 457th stage. And so, my tryst with stage 457 began.

There were only 12 moves to complete the stage. The longest that I have been stuck on a particular stage of Farm Heroes is five days. But this 457th stage challenged me. I played diligently, using the moves. However, I failed to cross that stage. The game gives you five lives for a day. Each day I consumed the five available lives and restarted the next day. I crossed my own limit of five days, yet no sign of success for stage 457. The jinx continued for a month. I was starting to lose patience. For once, I even thought of uninstalling the game. However, I did not because I had decided I would complete all the stages, whatsoever.

At the same time, I was at a difficult stage in my life. Weighed down by problems from all sides I found solace in conquering the Farm Heroes Saga stages. It might sound foolish as it is nevertheless, that is how my brain remained sane enough. Now that it has been a month and I am stuck at the same stage, frustrated me. From a mere game to help me sleep, this was now a mission for me. I did not want the stage 457 to win over my patience. It was personal. I knew I could conquer. I just needed a plan of action well suited for this stage. However, failure continued to befriend me for the second month in a row. The same drama continued for the third month until the last day. This was when I completed stage 457 successfully. I reached my state of quiescence in the game. I got a relaxed sleep I had been waiting for three months. The game continues but stage 457 is long over.

The fact that I was stubborn enough to play stage 457 for continuous three months until I conquered, gave me a perspective. It dawned upon me that I was exactly at the same stage in my life. The life stage 457. I had minimum moves to deal with the complex issues. The problems seemed endless each day and frustration multiplied. If I could play out the stage 457 in a game, I could very well do that in life. The same attributes of patience, planning, and perseverance could help me conquer life stage 457. I could pursue stage 457 for three months in a game, for life I could definitely chase longer. There can never be a stage in the game of life that stays forever. Thus, life stage 457 was restarted until conquered.

Lesson Learnt - “Life has interesting ways of teaching you.” TWEET this!

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Article © Copyright Salvwi Prasad