The Existentialism of Worldle

We’ve all played Wordle, right? That game where you try to guess a random 5 letter word through the process of elimination. There is one word per day so you can only play once, and this once-per-day word puzzle has now become a habit for me and my family. Our family group chat is almost entirely Wordle screenshots and our stats for the day. It is so much fun to see how other people get to the final word, it’s like a peek into another person's brain— it’s truly fascinating, and an all around wholesome time.

I’ve been thinking about how Wordle is such a great metaphor for the way that I want to go through life. Besides the fact that it’s super wholesome, exercises my brain, and has been a way for my family and I to have a common interest that we can chat about each day, the metaphor that I’m trying to develop here has more to do with the process of playing the game itself. 

You start off with 26 letters, you have all these possibilities, you could think of any 5-letter word you want. It is a little bit daunting; some people try to use a strategy like making sure to use a lot of vowels on their first turn, some people just put whatever word comes to mind first (I fall into the latter category lol)…. All in all, it doesn’t really matter because any word that you choose and any result that you get is helpful in the long run. That is the key point here. If you get a bunch of letters correct, great! You’re one step closer to figuring out the final word. If you get zero letters correct, also great! You’re one step closer to figuring out the final word. There’s no incorrect way to go about it, everyone eventually will get to the same final word despite the thousands or maybe millions of different ways to get there. Of course, sometimes you don’t make it, and in that case, you can just try again tomorrow. 

Playing this game everyday (and I mean everyday… 30-day streak let’s go!) has really made me think about the game of life that we’re all playing. We are all making choices and decisions each day with whatever resources we currently have, trying to make our way to a final, satisfying end goal. But I think sometimes we view our mistakes— and the obstacles in our path— as inherently negative things. We may make a choice that leads us to a dead end, leaving us further away from our end goal than from where we started. Whether it’s a long-term relationship that comes to an end, or maybe your first try on a word puzzle game was a complete wash where none of the letters you use were “correct”. It’s upsetting, you feel like you’ve wasted time, you feel like you’ve failed and maybe the dream you had just isn’t meant for you.

But what if you saw these failures in a different way? Can we see our mistakes from a different perspective? All of these situations, all these dead ends that we categorize as “failures”… What if these things are actually there to teach us? To help us, through the process of elimination, to continue reaching for the stars with more and more precision and intention? When you figure out which letters are incorrect, which ones aren’t necessary, which ones aren’t going to be useful to you anymore, you can get a fresh look at the remaining choices you have. A more precise and clearer view of the other paths that are available to you.

I’ve been noticing a shift in my mindset recently, after years of drilling this into my head it’s finally clicking: Everything is a lesson. Nothing is good, nothing is bad, it is all a lesson. Everything that we go through can be a teaching moment that brings us closer to finding what we’re searching for. It may feel bad in the moment; you may feel stupid that you only got one letter right on your first try, or you may feel like you didn’t try hard enough to make that relationship work. But your failures are so important. How else do you learn what works? How else do you learn what you truly need to be happy and feel fulfilled? 

I’ve been looking back at past events in my life— events that I’ve always categorized as negative, random, upsetting things, or mistakes that I kept making over and over again. Knowing what I know now, looking back it is laughably obvious that, oh my god, the Universe was trying to teach me something. The Universe was guiding me all along, showing me what wasn’t working in my life, showing me exactly what I needed. It may look like I wasted a bunch of letters, but really I was just learning what letters I don’t need anymore. I may feel like I wasted time in a relationship that wasn’t working, but really I was learning about how I like to be treated, learning about what boundaries I need, learning how to be honest with myself regarding my feelings and my happiness. 

I definitely have too much time on my hands which is causing me to have an emotional breakthrough thinking about this silly word game website lol, but honestly I think that we could all use the reminder to not give up on ourselves even when we fall or make a mistake or whatever. You are simply a vessel for the Universe to explore the world, and a journey to a dead end is still a journey (and is of course, full of lessons for you to learn and maybe grow from).

Let’s remember to treat ourselves and others with love and kindness as we stumble through this existence. Go play Wordle, chill out for the rest of your day, and don’t forget to be grateful for everything that you’ve been through and all of the lessons that life has taught us thus far. We are so lucky and blessed ‪♡‬

Thanks for reading :)

With love,
Caisa