Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.
Robert Louis Stevenson
This saying from my calendar accompanied me to work this morning on this twenty-first day of 2025.
The writer, the author of the first famous British horror novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, who lived only 44 years, left behind this wisdom.
How many times have you played cards? Have you had any luck sharing them? And yes, but did you manage to win in those divisions or did you pass without the expected prize?
Just like in cards, where everything mostly comes down to luck (or luck and a lot of bluffing), it's the same in life.
You have the strongest Royal Flush in your hand for nothing, if there is someone sitting across from you who does not want to play.
Because, sometimes even with one pair, victory is won...
We all have only moments of happiness in our lives (like when we draw 4 of the same cards 🙂), because no one can be happy all their life.
We all have problems and challenges that we face in life.
We are followed by adversity (some less, some more), illnesses, disappointments, money problems, loans, love problems...
We all live lives where we are mostly dealt bad or average cards.
And then just from our approach to life, playing the right way, we bring daily small victories (or suffer defeats), to some next "hands".
Some of us were born with the opportunity for a better, higher-quality life, and some of us are (as a friend mentioned us in a post the other day) an Underdog.
Predestined to start conquering the peaks from the lowest point with the least support and with the worst cards.
Depending on what kind of person the one who is underestimated is, it depends on whether he will come out of the situation "as a colonel or as a deceased".
Will he know how to bluff when necessary and present himself in a different, better light, sell himself for more than he is really worth (or sell himself for as much as he is really worthbecause sometimes that's the right measure).
Because there are many situations when someone is hopeless in this world and even though he is not an underdog and headed for the mountain peak just below the peak, with the great support of the system he lives in, family and society, he does not manage to play his life as he should.
When, although he has great knowledge and great qualities, a good education, a quality environment and a healthy family, he fails in life.
I know of many examples of both good and bad splits and have met many players who have made the most out of it.
What kind of player are you?
Do bad cards in your hands distract you from the game and fall into melancholy, or do bad cards encourage you to give your best, in order to get the most out of that deal?
You've got to know when to hold em,
Know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away,
Know when to run...
You never count your money,
while your sitting at the table,
there'll be time enough for counting,
when the dealings done.
The Gambler 👌
The ending was a great question. It's so easy to give up and fall into melancholy when you're dealt with bad cards. However, we have options and endless choices that sometimes we don't really utilize. One of it is just trying to get the best of out the card we're dealt with. Thank for this insightful pondering and reflection.
I'm glad you liked that question 🙂
It all depends on the person, whether they are a fighter or someone who gives up easily...
As long as there is life in us, we should fight to get the best out of what we have received in life.
There is a funny saying: "When life only gives you sour lemons, make lemonade" 🙂
But sometimes the fighter finally gives up.
Yesterday I was sitting with an elderly neighbor who had gone over his head in life.
But in the last deal he was given the card - lung cancer 😟 It seemed to me that this 75-year-old man no longer had the strength to fight and to surrender in the battle of life.
I don't allow my bad cards to discourage me and inch, rather I pause for a while, ask myself questions on why I'm not hitting it right, then I re-strategize for better results.
Thanks for sharing, that was motivating.
Me too 🙂
When something gets stuck and won't continue, I know to leave it, take a break, and start from the beginning.
I don't let go and I don't give up, like a pit bull when it bites 😁
That's beautiful