Once,
I used to think
That life was like a videogame -
A constant set of challenges,
Starting off easy…
Getting harder…
Until either finally you beat the system,
Rescued the princess,
Claimed your prize;
Or it’s game over.
It seemed so easy
To just meet the challenges one by one
As practice, until
You met the boss -
And defeated him too.

But life doesn’t work like that.

In life you can’t shoot everyone
That poses a threat to you.
If you eat mushrooms,
They won’t make you shrink or grow
And they may be poisonous.
If you jump on turtles,
They don’t fall off the end of the earth
And you get in trouble for animal cruelty.
In life princesses don’t love plumbers.
And enemies don’t faint
If you attack them,
And they rarely ever
Go away.

A videogame is easier.
Everyone is your enemy,
So your trust is never betrayed.
If you mess up,
It’s fine
Because there’s always another life,
And you just return to your checkpoint.
And if you need a break
You can just hit pause
Give yourself time to prepare.

But life has no pause button.
And life has no checkpoints.
And life has no one-ups.
And the bosses never enter with a catchy theme song
To warn you that they're there.

When you die you don’t have a choice to continue.
You can’t get back up
And try again.