The object of the game is to acquire more of everything. To win, you must outsmart others, demonstrate your overall superiority, and be right.

Score is kept by acquiring more material success, earning an important title, appearing more attractive, traveling to more exotic destinations, marrying a more successful and attractive partner, raising higher-performing kids, and living in an impressive house in the right neighborhood. The reward promised to you for winning this game is happiness. But to win, you must sacrifice all.

This game might be fun if it were played as a game, but we have been taught to call this game The Real World. This is not the real world, only an elaborate illusion. Institutions have even been setup to support the illusion that the game is real (media, courts, banks, schools, governments, prisons, etc.). Not only is the game unreal, nobody has ever won the ultimate reward promised. Happiness is what happens when we stop playing the game; but if we believe the game is real, we never stop.

While fun at times, no game can deliver true fulfillment, meaning, peace or happiness. No illusion can replace that which is real. Do not sacrifice that which is real to play a game. You will lose not just the game, but yourself.

Tomorrow we learn to succeed at life, not win at a meaningless game. You will still be able to play this game they call The Real World if you are still having fun, but it is no longer the purpose of your life—nor the source of anything that ultimately matters. We continue tomorrow and each day after that.