You start by losing toys, dolls, and stuffies, though you usually find them. Playing marbles, you might lose your shooter if your opponent knocks it out of the circle with his own.

More distressing would be losing time with a busy parent who has other things to do. If you pester Mom or Dad to the point they call you a name like pest, your feelings get hurt.

You lose their respect and perhaps confidence in your lovability.

Still young, you possess infinite time. Innocence is another possession, though you won’t know you have it until it is lost and you have kids of your own. Unlike the loose change in your pocket, innocence cannot be recovered or replaced.

Neither can time. Try not to waste it.

As you become a bit older, you might fear losing a parent, as you do when they don’t arrive to pick you up at the promised moment.

When going out alone, the anxiety of getting lost may arise, and you may lose your way back home. Should you approach an antagonistic kid on the playground who doesn’t want you near, he could tell you to “get lost.”

School books and other important educational material or personal items are sometimes placed in the “Lost and Found.” Seeking, perhaps you shall find.

Games yield wins and losses. Avoid the latter category, but insight leading to beneficial change comes more often with defeats than victories.

Teachers will ask questions even if you don’t raise your hand. It is embarrassing to be at a loss for the correct answer.

Once you start dating, you will encounter those you find desirable who can’t be persuaded to go out with you. Privately, they might call you a loser, but they could be the ones who lose out.

Remember that.

Better still, discover someone compatible who finds you attractive. The time will come when you lose your virginity. Rapture tells you this is not a loss.

Young men, however, are displeased when they encounter the shock of hair in the bathroom sink. Losing the inborn cover on your head is a huge deal, at least until it is gone.

Your mane is not the main thing. Don’t style a comb-over. Without such superficialities as curly locks, realize that confidence is what counts.

Learning comes from all of the above. Adaptation is an essential lesson. If you recognize the enlightenment life offers you, take its sufferable and survivable blows, and seek the joy between the victories and losses. Time, thought, relationships, success, and failure provide teachable moments.

There are losses without loss. Think of the loss of self-consciousness and fear. Triumph over trauma is not losing. Financial reverses can often be recovered. The end of a job might lead to a better one. Good luck plays its part, as does time’s healing of heartbreak.

Losing can be turned upside down into a win at times. Searching for a new way to make a living, a partner, the gift of spoken eloquence, or wisdom—not one of these is easy. Discovering the world’s ways permits growth. Looking for work in his 20s in the jobless 1930s, my dad reminded himself, “Every knock is a boost.”

The endless reach for financial wealth is not so worthwhile as those tricks of the trade that enable a full life. Given the gift of time, it is often possible to learn how to meet life on its terms, face punishing losses, and find the road to adaptation, joy, friendship, good works, love, and laughter.

Do not forget to forget your troubles and find a compartment to put them in. Without play, you will be lost. Don’t worry—you will revisit them soon enough.

Build your will like a Lego castle.

With time, you will have lost much, gained much, and pushed forward on sunny and rainy days.

Weave kindness into your soul.

Tell me your secret if you can do better.

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The marbles were photographed by Wendy and sourced from Marble Collector/Wikimedia Commons.