It has always been pretty typical of me to play computer games. I love procrastinating, so computer games have always been a must for me.

During my sophomore year I was introduced to a certain game, 2048. 2048 is a math matching game of sorts, where you try and combine the numbers until reaching the goal of getting 2048.

I started playing this game religiously, mostly because it is a game that doesn’t need your complete attention to play. I started playing during class work time, at home when I was trying to do homework, and then during lectures and notes.

Even though I played the game basically everyday of the week for the past 2 years, I have never won. The game isn’t relatively difficult to beat, I just had never gotten a 2048.

While I was never victorious, I kept playing. For whatever reason, I was so committed to winning this game that I just kept on playing and losing.

Finally, during the second semester of my senior year, during Journalism, I won 2048.

I remember showing everyone around me, because most people know I have been playing this game.

Ultimately, it was just a game. And beating the game was not anything that impressive. It was really the principle and what the game taught me.

The game taught me resilience and being able to bounce back and keep attempting a goal. Because no matter how many times the game flashed “game over,” I still clicked start again and continued trying.

The game taught me the importance of chasing, and reaching, a goal. Because playing a game for two years that you have never won is pretty difficult.

So while I probably missed a lot in my classes, tuning out lectures and missing sporadic notes, I learned some valuable lessons from playing 2048. Which, arguably, might be something that will stick with me longer.