Lessons will be repeated until they are learned

I love chess. In elementary school I competed, however, since then, until a couple of years ago, I did not play it at all. Today is easy to find an opponent online and that does not require any special engagement, so I began to play it almost on a daily basis. It took me some time to get back in shape. But now i can admit that I’m pretty good. Honestly, I do not have to win, but losing is something I hate. So winning doesn’t have alternative.

In the past few weeks, I’ve entered a good winning series. Let’s say I was losing 1 game out of 8. The good result made me relax. I was no longer focused on winning, and I began to underestimate the opponents. I was pulling  completely “abnormal” and I was still winning. This pattern repeated until I got the opponent who was skilled enough to punish almost every bad move. The first 4 games – 4:0 for him. “OK, now is the time to start playing seriously,” I thought. However, I did my best to play the best I can in next 4 games, but I lost them as well. That was complete fail, 8:0. After finishing, the first thought that came on my mind was

“Never mind, this is just a game.”

This is true, however, almost the same thing was, every once in a while, happening in my life.

It’s okay for a man to relax. In reality, we can be fully focused and give 100% of ourselves constantly. However, we can get in a trouble when, just because we feel too confident, we underestimate life situation we face. If we act without thinking, because we are too confident, it can easily happen that from the life position “everything is perfect,” suddenly, we notice that the things are going in to the unwanted direction. If notice that your car are going downhill, be careful with stopping it in the middle of the downhill, it can easily overrun you. You better hold on them and drive until they stop by themselves. Then roll up your sleeves and start all over again. And as you are doing that, make sure to learn the lesson as well.

In chess or life, lessons will be repeated until they are learned.