Things in life are fated by our previous lives, so even in the smallest events, there is no such thing as coincidence — Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

I sometimes wonder if the QWERTY keys get frustrated inside the simulation, because right after the letter “U”, there comes “I”, then “O” and “P”, like it’s following pre-coded steps in a script it didn’t write. Each key plays its part in a fixed sequence, programmed and bound by logic, not by choice, but by design.

I see I’ve just made you glance down at your keyboard, didn’t I?

Chess mirrors life; the very process of thinking, calculating, and making real-time decisions in chess is akin to what we do through life. Sometimes we make decisions not because we want to, but because there are no real options, just a tangle of conflicting choices and the ticking pressure of time.

But life doesn’t play out as one single game, it’s a series of games, each with its own positions and turning points that have shaped the path to where we are now.

“An unexamined life is not worth living” — Socrates.

We’re not just characters in a script, moving predictably without thought. We have the power of choice, the weight of responsibility, and the ability to reflect and steer our own story.

So I always choose to pause, to linger, to find meaning in seemingly unmeaningful events, finding comfort in reading, not just the texts, but the writer’s style, letting the words flow into my being, and deepening my understanding of the layers in this simulation we call life. This way, I find my navigation into the complex paths of life smooth, keeping an awareness of my ignorance, my frailty, and this gives me the patience to stay on course.

They say life might be a simulation, but no one warns you that sometimes, you enter the game on autopilot.

Let’s track back a bit into a not-so-distant past.

Premoved Dreams

Getting into the University of Lagos to study Actuarial Science wasn’t exactly my choice. Like many African kids, my future had already been charted long before I knew there were other maps. I had dreamed of studying Pure and Applied Physics at ABU Zaria, somewhere quiet, far from the familiar buzz of Lagos. But that vision was quickly replaced by what I now call a parental firmware update, a non-negotiable and mandatory update. And just like that, I landed in Unilag.

For the first two years, I lived in what I like to call the NPC mode (Non-Player Character). I showed up for lectures, took the tests, and passed the courses. But none of it felt like me. I was only complying, moving through with no voice, sealing a silent agreement: don’t fail, don’t embarrass the family. I was present, but absent, a ghost in my narrative.

This was strange to me because growing up, I was anything but passive. I was a precocious and mischievous child, a growing wilding (My Mum can attest to this.) But what had I become?

My Mum, with her touch of motherly genius, had made a mysterious move not even I could decode, not until now. She let me run wild in chess tournaments, on the condition that I kept my grades up. That’s an age-old trick African mothers have perfected: raising rebels without losing them to the street or the system.

So, how did I balance chess and school? Simple, I hacked the game.

Each semester, I’d start by reading the whole syllabus thoroughly. That was my shortcut, I wasn’t a fast reader, I like to take my time and enjoy each sentence. But I learned early on that if you mapped the territory upfront, you don’t have to sprint at the end. When exams came, I was just reviewing what I already knew. That gave me the space to travel for chess tournaments and come back without falling behind. To others, it looked like I was balancing both. To me, I was just being strategic.

Funnily, I didn’t enjoy most of my courses, but a few stood out to me — The Nigerian Legal System, and Introduction to Philosophy had textures I loved. They felt like openings to something more, and maybe that’s when things started to shift.

Somewhere in my sophomore year, I woke up and switched from the non-player character to the playing character, from being passive to being active. I started participating in the university, I became a presence, not just a placeholder. I wasn’t just completing assignments, I was asking questions. I wasn’t just playing chess, I was teaching, leading, becoming.

And somewhere between philosophy classes and pawn sacrifices, I stumbled on a concept that explained everything I had felt..

The Monte Carlo Simulation

In Actuarial Science, the Monte Carlo method is used to predict uncertain outcomes. It runs thousands of simulations by randomly sampling possibilities, giving a glimpse of how the future might unfold amid real-life unpredictability.

That’s when it clicked: life is one big Monte Carlo simulation.

We don’t get one flawless shot. In our minds, we run through a thousand possibilities, but in real life, we only get one. There’s randomness, risk, and luck, but there’s also pattern, discipline, and choice. You can’t control everything, but you can shift the odds in your favor. You can prepare, build safety nets, and learn to recover when things go wrong.

So what’s the lesson?

Some of us are born into a scripted life — quiet, compliant, carrying the weight of decisions we didn’t make. At some point, we must wake up and realize that the joystick has always been in our hands. That’s when we start playing the real game.

I didn’t choose actuarial science, but I chose who I became through it. I didn’t choose the University of Lagos, but I chose to become more than just a number in the system.

And now, I’m playing this game called life with my own analogue joystick, making moves, rewinding when I must, and pressing start every single day with full control.

Playing the game of Options

An experience is always what it is because of a transaction taking place between an individual and what, at the time, constitutes his environment. — John Dewey

Our environment and experiences shape us in unquantifiable ways. We are, after all, products of our experiences, the people around us, and our challenges.

Let’s load the options file.

If you played or had a Play Station 2 around 2011/2012, you may relate to this term, “Options file”

Even more thrilling was the song Ai Se Eu Te Pego by Michael Telo’ blasting from the speakers. Pro-Evolution Soccer was everything good.

Where am I going with this? First, I’ve always loved games, and I still do. But more importantly, the concept of the options file — It was a preset you had to load to make the game work properly, with the right kits, ball types, and updates. Without it, the game felt flat.

This options file analogy brought to mind the sheer illusions of options. I see options as templates and frameworks that will determine the paths ahead, hence we must always aspire to have patience to choose wisely or load our prepared options file.

People are often surprised when I say I love soccer more than chess. Maybe it’s because I’m a chess master now, or because I talk in strategy, not stats. But I once dreamed of being a left winger, fast, skillful, and free on the pitch. I didn’t have the build or the breaks to keep chasing that dream. My big moments never came on the field, but these days, I run in my Adidas Sambas, not for goals, but to catch the buses, chasing quiet, personal wins.

Soccer blends skill and strength, but it’s also about teamwork. You can make the perfect run, but if no one passes, you’re stuck. In chess, it’s different, even in team events, your board is your world. Every move, every risk — it’s all on you. This was one option I picked, chess over soccer, even though I seemed to love soccer more.

People often want life to come with pre-installed successes, but real growth is in the process, in setting up your own “options file.” I’ve learned to value the work behind the wins, not the shortcuts.

For me, one of the best choices I have made yet was choosing to leave home, to become a wanderer of the unknown, to push forth through the limitations of my environment and explore the realms of my imaginative capabilities. I daresay I loaded the right options file. And as I said in my last piece, AyOS is rebooted, actively synchronizing, and harnessing its creativity. Enters Olamide’s Shakiti Bobo.

One thing I have learned is that everything has led me to this moment, all my idiosyncrasies, all my wins, all the moves I made without thinking about the ensuing position, the complexities that will arise from the move, all the times I betrayed my instinct and followed the crowd, all the times I felt pressured, but ended up building capacity by being pressure cooked. All those events led me to this moment where I type these words. I hope they may spark up even a tiny ray of light for you, my dear reader, I hope they fire up something inside of you, something to spur you on to the actualization of your imaginative depth.

Dear reader, I leave you with a subtle reminder to be gracious with yourself.

If a man lives long enough, he forgives himself. Time softens what anger once held tight.

Wherever you are on the map, may your next move be intentional. ❤