Veganism, Wordle and Other Hurdles

Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads. — Mary Oliver

Around the new year, all these peculiar little graphs with colored squares started popping up in my Facebook feed seemingly out of nowhere. It was, and is, Wordle, a daily word game that has taken the world — or just many on my friend’s list — by storm. You may have noticed these graphs. You may even be playing. I am.

I won’t spend time explaining how Wordle works because that is easy enough to dig up and that is not what this is about. What struck me was in the daily shares that were popping up in my feed, I noticed some interesting take-aways about the puzzle. To be clear, Wordle is not a competition. You are not in a race to win something. It’s not high stakes. It’s also not something to beat yourself up over. It’s simply a daily word puzzle challenge.

I noticed right away that with the sharing of these graphs and in the comments, I was seeing both gloating and self-flagellation: “Got it in three!” “Today took me six tries. :(” “I suck at this. I never did figure it out.” “WOOT: Got it in TWO!” I relate to this so much because this has been…