Life involves goals. For some, it involves one big goal. Life involves actions that can be taken to achieve goals. The actions that fulfill one’s goals in life are restricted by rules—the rules of nature and society.
What we call life is simply a collection of individual actions from birth to death. Since an action requires conscious movement, one can say that living starts when a child starts being more conscious of their actions.
However, life seems to start way before a child becomes conscious. At this time, the child is already “alive” but is not yet “living” or “acting” as both suggests action, and action requires consciousness.
Life can be a happy project (a game).