SNAKES AND LADDERS

A Game Of Progress, Setbacks, And Starting Over.

I regularly play Snakes and Ladders with my little brother and sister. Now, if you've ever played the game, you'll know how cruel it can be. A couple of days back, we were playing the game and i was winning, dominating. I had almost reached the top of the board. Victory was practically within reach. Then i landed on a snake, one of those massive snakes that sends you tumbling all the way back down the board.

My brother and sister burst into laughter. I laughed too, i mean what else could i do. Then i sat there staring at the board and thought…"Well, that's familiar." Because lately, life has felt a lot like that. There have been moments when i thought i was finally getting somewhere. When everything seemed to be lining up perfectly, moments when i was convinced i was only a few steps away from where i wanted to be. And then life introduced me to a snake.

A setback

A disappointment

A rejection

A failure

A detour

Suddenly, i wasn't where i thought i would be. I was back at the bottom, wondering how i had fallen so far after climbing so high. Beneath the colorful board and simple rules lies a truth about life, progress is rarely linear. Sometimes you climb, sometimes you fall. Sometimes you do everything right and still end up sliding backwards.

The frustrating part is that nobody tells you how often the snakes appear. We grow up believing that hard work automatically guarantees success. That if we keep making the right choices, life will reward us accordingly. Then reality arrives.

You study hard and fail

You love deeply and get hurt

You work tirelessly and still get overlooked

You make plans and life laughs

And yet somehow, the game continues. The more i thought about it, the more i realised that Snakes and Ladders is not just about the snakes or the ladders. It is also about the dice.

Sometimes you roll a six, life moves quickly, and things fall into place. Opportunities arrive. The timing is perfect, and you move forward faster than you imagined. Other times you roll a two, maybe a one. You move, but only slightly. Progress feels painfully slow, and everyone else seems to be racing ahead while you're inching forward one square at a time. You begin to question yourself. You wonder if you're doing something wrong. The funny thing about Snakes and Ladders is that the game does not belong exclusively to the people rolling sixes.

The player who rolls a two is still moving. The player who lands on a snake is still in the game, and the player who cannot yet see the finish line is still getting closer to it. Life is pretty much the same. I think many of us underestimate the power of small progress because we are obsessed with dramatic leaps. We celebrate ladders, we rarely celebrate the ordinary squares. But most of life happens on ordinary squares.

Most growth is invisible

Most success is built one step at a time

Not every move will be a ladder

Not every season will be exciting

Sometimes all you can do is move forward one square and trust that it matters. Some people seem to be handed sixes at exactly the right moments. Others spend years collecting twos and threes. Yet neither situation is permanent. Listen, today's six can become tomorrow's snake. Today's two may place you on the exact square where a ladder is waiting.

Not long ago, i came across a picture of a book called Snakes and Ladders by Albert Ocran and Comfort Ocran, on Pinterest. Curious, i borrowed it online and finished reading it in two days.

The book explores the realities of growth, success, failure, purpose, and perseverance. It reminds readers that life is never a straight climb upward. Every journey contains ladders that elevate us and snakes that humble us. The challenge is not avoiding either one. The challenge is learning how to respond when we encounter them.

What resonated with me most was the idea that setbacks do not necessarily mean failure. Sometimes the very thing that feels like a step backwards becomes the lesson that prepares us for what comes next. Sometimes the snake teaches us something the ladder never could.

Reading the book forced me to reflect on my own life. On the plans that worked, on those that didn't. On the dreams that arrived exactly when i expected them to and the ones that never did. On the moments i thought i was falling behind, only to realise later that i was simply taking a different route. Looking back, some of what i once saw as snakes were actually lessons in disguise.

Both the game and the book promise neither certainty nor a smooth journey. They do not tell us that if we are good enough, careful enough, or hardworking enough, we will avoid every snake. They simply remind us that snakes are part of the board, just as ladders are.

And sometimes all you can do is pick up the dice and trust that the next roll matters. Maybe it's a two, or a six. Maybe it's a snake, and maybe it's the ladder that changes everything. But you'll never find out if you stop playing. And so, despite the snakes i've met and the ladders i've missed, i will never stop rolling the dice, and neither should you.

~Carried, then written

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