Resiliency: What the Game of UNO Has Taught Me About Life

Resiliency is an important life skill. It is the ability to recover from setbacks, adapt to change, and keep going in the face of difficulties. I learned about resiliency from an unlikely source: the card game UNO. UNO is a shedding-type card game that is all about managing your hand so that you can get rid of them all before your opponents do.

But sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to get rid of that one pesky card. Maybe it is the wrong color, or you don’t have the right number. Maybe your turn keeps getting skipped. Whatever the reason, there are times when it feels like that card will never go away. But the key is to never give up. Eventually, somebody will play a card that you can use, and you will finally be able to get rid of that card, and when that happens, you will feel a sense of triumph and relief.

A game of UNO is similar to life. Without a clear strategy or game plan, it’s easy to get lost in the folds and unable to continue moving forward. The game is full of twists and turns, and if you’re not careful, you can find yourself in a tough corner.

Imagining my life as an UNO game has given me a whole new perspective. In both UNO and life, drawing the right card at the right time is critical to success. Life is far more complicated than a simple strategy game. There are several elements that affect the outcome of each and every decision we make.

Attitude

Attitude is everything. You can play 100 Hands and lose 100 times but maintaining the right attitude will keep you in the game long after others have given up. No matter how bad your hand is, or how far behind you are, you always have to believe that you can win. You must stay positive and think about all the different ways that you can turn the game around, because if you give up, then you have already lost. As long as you have the right attitude, learn from your losses, and be coachable and optimistic, you will find success.

Strategy

There are a lot of different ways to win at UNO, but the most important thing is to have a plan. You have to know what cards you need and what moves you need to make to get them. Without a strategy, it is easy to get lost and end up losing the game.

Collaboration

In UNO and life, it is often beneficial to work together with the other players. Even if you are trying to be competitive, you must be able to play well with others. If you can all agree on a common goal, then it becomes much easier to achieve. That doesn’t mean that you have to be friends with everyone, you just need to all understand the mission and advance towards the same goal. You can still be competitive and try to win, but more often than not you must work well with others.

Conflict resolution

In UNO, certain cards can “change the direction” of play, or cause other players to draw more cards, and these can often lead to discord, although fun to do, this can significantly delay the progress of the game. In UNO and Life, it is important to be able to resolve conflicts quickly and efficiently, to keep the game (or in this case, life) moving forward. I also learned that it is important to be able to see both sides of a situation and to be willing to compromise to find a resolution that everyone can live with.

Compromise

In UNO, it is important to know when to fold. Sometimes you have to give up on a hand and start over with a new one. Because if you don’t, you might end up losing everything. And that is something that I’ve also learned in life: that it is important to know when to quit, reassess and come up with a new strategy.

Losing

Losing is a part of UNO, just like it is a part of life. And it is not always fun. But losing has taught me one important thing: how to pick myself up and keep going. Because even though losing hurts, it is not the end of the world. There’s always another game to be played and another lesson to be learned.

Winning

Winning is the best part of UNO (or any game, really). It feels good to know that all your hard work has paid off and that you were able to beat the odds. But winning has also taught me something important: how to be a gracious winner. Because no matter how much you want to gloat, it is always more important to be a good sport.

Conclusion

The next time you find yourself dealt a bad hand, remember the resilience of UNO and don’t give up. Keep playing until all of your cards are gone, even if it means taking some extra turns. With a little bit of perseverance, you can come out on top—just like in life. So go ahead and challenge yourself—play UNO and see what you can learn about being resilient. Who knows, maybe you will be able to apply those lessons to your own life and become unstoppable!

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Jonathan Ede, CJM, MSCJ, is a Captain with the Travis County Sheriff’s Office in Austin Texas, assigned to Housing and Special Operations. He has over 17 years of experience in the field of corrections and is a dually certified Master Jailer and Peace Officer for the State of Texas. For more information, he can be reached at (512) 854-7851 or via email at jonathan.ede@traviscountytx.gov.