If you're like me, you've probably heard the seemingly never-ending comparisons of life. Life is a journey, life is like a book, a roller coaster, and in the famous words of William Shakespeare, "all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." Perhaps my favorite comparison, by the good old Forrest Gump: "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get." Why is that my favorite? Well, Forrest Gump is awesome, and I love chocolate.
Why are symbolic comparisons so popular? Perhaps it's in our nature to make symbolic comparisons as often as we can. What does a rose generally symbolize? Love. Romance. Affection. What about a dove? Peace. Freedom. Innocence. A raven? Danger. A bad omen. Sometimes, death.
We make symbolic comparisons more often than we tend to realize. After all, the language of dreams is symbolism. This isn't anything new; you can date back as long as you'd like, across different cultures and civilizations, and you'll still find some historical records of symbolism in dreams. In some cases, dreaming about vehicles may mean that you're worried about the way your life is going. Dreaming that you're being chased may indicate that you're feeling pressure or anxiety in daily life. You can't deny it: whether we're sleeping or awake, symbolism is everywhere.
We make life comparisons as a coping mechanism for life's difficulties and stressful moments, or to sound more intelligent in front of our peers, or simply because we find symbolism so fascinating and fun.
So, how exactly is life like a video game, you may be wondering?
Below are the top seven ways in which our lives mirror a metaphorical video game:
Learning Through Failure and Experience
I'm not sure what it is, but people, especially young people, have such a negative impression of failure. It's almost as if we believe failure is the single worst thing in the world. Well, I'd argue it's the opposite.
Failure and learning through experience are part of the process, both in life and in video games. Failing, or "losing a life" in a video game, teaches us what to avoid moving forward. We are presented with an opportunity to reflect on what went wrong and to better prepare ourselves the next time we face a similar situation. You've heard of YOLO (you only live once)? Wrong. You live every single day, and failure gifts you an opportunity to learn, grow, and improve; in other words, you get another chance to try again, to live again.
Various Levels and Challenges
Just like in a video game, life will always give us new and different levels and challenges.
We spend our early years learning the essential basics: how to crawl and walk, how to eat by ourselves, when and where to use the bathroom. Similarly, in a video game, we are first taught how to move our characters, how to get from one place to another, how to survive and thrive. As we level up in each stage of life, we are presented with more difficult tasks and obstacles, more opportunities to grow, learn new skills, gain more knowledge and experiences, and use what we learn to succeed, to fail and try again until we are successful, or until we've had enough and decide to stop playing. My advice: don't stop playing.
Growth and Progression
Over time and experience, video game characters acquire new abilities, new strengths, and new items that help conquer the journey. Similarly, in life, we gain knowledge, tools, and resources that aid our personal growth and make us better prepared to handle life's unpredictable challenges.
Sometimes, acquiring these resources and abilities is a combination of hard work, effort, and perhaps a little luck. Sometimes, failure plays a huge role in learning and/or re-learning different abilities. Either way, whichever combinations you choose or whichever paths you take, you will find growth and progression waiting for you.
Choices and Consequences
In life, just like in video games, we may have hundreds of potential choices and decisions to make on a daily basis.
Which shirt am I going to wear today? Which route should I take to work? Should I brush my teeth before or after my coffee? Do I even have time to brush my teeth today? I'm running late.
Which mission should I complete first? Do I explore the gloomy cave, the enchanted forest, or do I simply complete my objective as soon as possible? Which weapon do I need for this mission? Do I need to upgrade my weapon, which one, or do I focus on upgrading my character first?
Too many decisions? Yup. That's life. Make a choice, deal with the consequences, and don't be filled with regret; often times, you won't know which decision is best, and you won't understand how it affects the course of your journey. Whether your decisions lead to success or failure, you keep going.
Goals and Quests
In life, as in video games, we constantly pursue certain dreams, goals, missions, and objectives.
We are constantly working towards something, whether it's as minor as attending a free online seminar on grammar usage, or as ambitious as becoming a heart surgeon. During life's different stages, we endlessly strive to master new skills, achieve personal and professional goals, or at the very least, try to be a better person than we were the day before.
In video games, there are quests and missions that need to be completed, whether they're minor quests like speaking to a certain character in a different town, or building and sustaining hospitality in a remote, desolate island.
Either way, these goals and objectives are part of the journey and are part of what makes us human; or in this case, video game characters.
Discovery and Exploration
Much like exploring a new territory in an open-world RPG game, life, especially in this day and age, is filled with opportunities to travel and learn or work abroad.
The world has come a long way since horses and carriages were the main form of transport, and a much longer way since communication consisted of handwriting a letter to be delivered on foot by someone that surely must have been despised by his village folk.
Nowadays, we're lucky enough to visit new places, discover new ideas, or simply meet new people with a touch of a screen. You don't like your hometown and your annoying neighbors? No worries, you can apply for a job in the farthest country away from those annoying neighbors and discover a wide variety of new places and famous landmarks, try new cuisines, meet new people, and explore the world in any way that you'd like.
Remember that open-world RPG game? Well, you're free to explore any part of it, however you'd like, whenever you'd like.
Multiplayer
Despite what many of us believe, we are not the only important characters in the world.
Much like video games, in life we are surrounded by other characters, friendly or otherwise, all of the time. Whether we play sports and need to rely on teamwork, or we're collaborating on the next big project at work, or simply driving through Wendy's because we're starving and love their chicken sandwiches, we are part of a social experience.
In multiplayer video games, we discuss and collaborate with other people in order to achieve any shared goals or quests. Even in single-player video games, you are not alone; friendly characters, NPCs, and enemies of all kinds stand with you or against you in a virtual, social experience.
No matter our symbolic preference for life, we can't deny that life is filled with ups and downs, difficulties and unpredictability, growth, setbacks, success, failure, choices, exploration, and other people.
Much like video game characters, you are not alone.
Just remember, even though life can be difficult for everyone at times, don't take it too seriously.
After all, it's only a game.
