Thoughts from a SUDOKU fan

I am realising that life is really like the game of Sudoku. Now I don't know about you, but I have become a compulsive player. Sad to say it, but I actually have Sudoku books, Sudoku on my laptop, Sudoku on my PDA (and sometimes....I even dream in Sudoku squares).

When it comes to life, I realise that Sudoku is very much like life. For example, when you start out you play the easy games. These build confidence and also teach you the in's and out's. However, as you progress, the puzzles become trickier and trickier.

Typically the following happens:
a) Start puzzle with great gusto
b) Solve two or three blocks ... I believe that I am a SUDOKU genius
c) I am stuck...for the life of me I can't see a way out
d) Do I give up, go to sleep OR shall I persevere....
e) I keep going .... still can't see a single breakthrough
f) Finally, a breakthrough and the momentum picks up and VOILA - Hooray - another puzzle solved.
g).............sometimes, no HURRAY...as whooops - I find a mistake. Now the big dilemma comes...do I start again, can I backtrack and find my error and correct or do I toss the whole thing and take up chess?

For those of you struggling to make the link, I find life similar to this...
I start with gusto, things flow quite easily and the natural momentum of starting something new propels me forward. Then I get stuck....where to go...what to do...can I see a way through. How wonderful to know that if I just stick it out, I can get that breakthrough and solve another one of life's puzzles!