A couple of days ago, I was helping someone craft a cover letter and a resume. We had just finished polishing the last sentence of her cover letter when she sighed deeply and said, “Why do we even have to write this way? So formal and weird. We don’t even use such language in everyday life when we work.”
Her words made me pause. It was a simple observation, yet it carried so much truth. Why do we switch to a different, almost unnatural way of writing when we apply for jobs? It was an interesting perspective, and instead of giving a conventional answer, I asked her, “Do you remember the essay you wrote when you applied for university?”
She responded almost instantly, “Oh, yeah… that one too!”
For a moment, I sat there, thinking about the best way to respond. I didn’t want to give a generic answer that she had probably heard a thousand times before. Then, as if the words had found me instead of the other way around, I simply said, “Life is a game. There's a rule in every game.”
The moment those words left my mouth, I was taken aback. I had never framed life in such a way before, yet the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Life indeed feels like a series of games, and every aspect of it comes with its own set of rules. A job application? A game. A university admission essay? Another game. Every stage of life seems to come with its own rulebook, some written, some unspoken.
Before I could even process my own realization, she let out another sigh and said, “Life is so hard.”
