Slices of Life
What a difference a letter makes
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I do the Wordle each morning. For those of you living in a bubble, Wordle is a puzzle that gives you six guesses to find a five-letter word.
Before we go any further, I have to get two things off my chest. Wordle is a game about five-letter words, yet the name of the game - Wordle - has six letters. This bothers me to no end. Couldn’t the game about five-letter-words be titled with a five-letter word, perhaps maybe “Wordl?”
Complaint number two: they give you six guesses for a five-letter word. Why not five? I know that would make it tougher, but a word puzzle with a five-letter title that gives you five guesses to find a five-letter word would be so elegant in my world.
(Moment of silence here to contemplate this great possibility.)
But that’s not what I’m here to discuss today, although it does have to do with Wordle.
I’ve done the game hundreds of times. I know when I get an “e” in the middle of the word and it isn’t in the right place, it’s likely at the end, or second to end and followed by an “r” or a “d.”
The English language has certain patterns like that. I understand those basic patterns, so usually when I do the Wordle, I pay more attention the patterns than the meaning of the actual words.
But a couple of days ago, the Wordle made me think in bigger ways that whether I should go with “adieu” or something more simple like “steal” for my first guess. Sometimes I even like to use a word like “early” to get the “y” in the mix.
On this particular day I can’t remember my first or second or even third guess, but by guess number four I had the solution down to two options - dream or dread.
And it hit me.
Oh what a difference one letter can make.
Like so many analogies, this equated to life. One tiny alteration can change everything. In this case, one letter converted the word from dream - something we all aspire to – to dread - something we all, well, dread.
Life can change on a dime. Many of us understand this firsthand.
So when I was confronted with the dream-dread conundrum, I chose dream. Better put, I choose dream – in Wordle and in real-life.
And, even though the correct answer was dread, I knew I’d still solve the puzzle because I had two guesses left.
Which brings me back to life. When it drags you down with dread, please know you still have more choices, more options, more guesses left. You don’t have to ruminate on the dread - even when it feels like the end.
You can still choose to dream. You can modify the circumstances to move away from dread to something much closer to dream.
It May be as easy as taking one more guess, but it’s often a little more complex than that.
But even if you are out of guesses, or feel like you are out of them, you aren’t.
Not really. Because life doesn’t limit you like a word game does.
I’m talking about second chances or do-overs or maybe even just starting again from scratch.
It might sound complicated or incredibly hard or even insurmountable, and it may be. But in life I refuse to accept dread as the answer. I may not reach the dream, but there has to be something better between the two.
And remember the difference between dread and dream is only one letter. One letter.
Oh what a difference one letter can make.
Oh what a difference one day can make. One breath can make. One thought can make. One interaction can make.
Give it a chance. Give yourself a chance. To dream. Without any typos.
You are in charge of the writing of your future.
So dare to dream big.
Jill Pertler is an award-winning syndicated columnist, published playwright and author. Don’t miss a slice; follow the Slices of Life page on Facebook.
