What playing Bananagrams taught me about life
The journey through life is hardly a linear path, but sometimes society tries to force us into a rigid production line that’s configured to churn out adults with a very specific set of features; can keep a respectable job, is ‘level-headed’, looks responsible, plans to get married, looks forward to raising kids, e.t.c.
This means that we unconsciously internalize many constraining expectations that have put us in a position where we think we need to be flawless, to always be ahead of the curve and forward-thinking in order to feel like we’re winning.
Sometimes, we set out on a path and we feel that because we have publicly declared to society that it’s our strategically chosen path, we are reluctant to change course or pivot.
So, after all of the blood, sweat and tears that it takes for things to finally start coming together, the last thing we’ll condone is the thought of reshuffling our lives, or even worse, having to hit reset.
Bananagrams is a word game similar to Scrabble; you’re given a set of small lettered tiles and you have to use all the tiles (there are about 15 — 21 tiles per player) to form connecting words, just like in Scrabble.
For every time a player uses up her set of tiles, she shouts “peel!” and everyone picks a new tile to add to their set. This process is repeated until the tile stash is exhausted. Every new lettered tile added to a player’s set has to fit into the already existing group of words. If the tile doesn’t fit instantly, the player has to reorganize the tiles and look for new words till all the tiles are used up.
The first time I ever played it, I beat two seasoned players to come first place. Yay me 🥳.
However, the second time I played, I found myself in the dreaded situation of having to completely reorganize my group of words. I was ahead of the game and I was devastated at the thought of having to reshuffle, afraid that I wouldn’t be able to find words in time to win.
I came in second place, but more importantly, I realized that if I hadn’t quit sulking and found the courage to change course, I would have lost the game completely.
So, that’s what playing Bananagrams taught me about life; sometimes, you have to be willing to tear up that ‘perfect’ work, start afresh, rethink your approach, move things around and explore a new path even if it’s the hardest thing you have to do.
