My daughter’s exams start today. I asked her how she’s feeling. You can guess what she replied! We’ve all been through this, haven’t we? Here’s something I shared with her, thought it would be useful to you too.

“Arista, I know you’ve been very committed, very hardworking and you’ve prepared well. That’s what counts.. the effort. You see like any other game of life, all school exams are also a game.

Your job is to play the game well, play it with passion, with fervour, give the game all you’ve got.. but don’t make the game significant. Do you understand what I mean by that?”

“Don’t make it significant.. hmmm.. does it mean don’t make the game important, don’t make a big deal of the game Pappa?”, she asked.

“Bingo Aru, you see often when we play the game of career, the game of relationships, the game of business.. or whatever other game of life we play, we often get so attached to the game that we base our happiness and peace of mind on the outcome of the game. We don’t get a promotion, we sulk through the year, we have a breakup, we get shattered, our business bombs, we never recover from that!

You, your existence, your happiness is much more important than winning or losing the games you play. Societal conditioning puts too much emphasis on winning, losing is looked down upon. And so you go nuts trying to win and you get too involved in the game and lose your well-being in the process.

I tell people, play the game well, play it to win, don’t play it NOT to lose (there’s a huge difference), but don’t be obsessed with the game. It’s just a game!

Your real exam is in holding your nerve, staying relaxed and not succumbing to the exam pressure.”

“Got that Pappa.. it’s just a game!”, she said as she left for her first exam!