Do not spend your whole life proving you can win a game you never wanted to play.

It is entirely possible to spend decades competing for something you never actually wanted, because the game was already running when you arrived and winning felt like the only available response. The exit is rarely obvious, since stepping away looks like failure by the game’s own rules.

Ask whether you chose this contest or inherited it. If it was inherited, ask what you would want if nobody were keeping score. Leaving a game you never chose is not a loss, whatever it looks like from inside.