Redo Anyone?

I play a lot of video games and I’m ready to admit it.

The best part about a video game and these are the first things that jump to mind; the graphics, the lore behind each game, the fact that games can get your imagination to scale heights that aren’t possible in reality. Oh! and a lot of times you are in charge of some pretty slick characters that do some really crazy things.

While these are great, what I love most about video games are they always give me a “Redo”.

You always get a chance to fix your mistakes in video games. Maybe your strategy wasn’t right. You could’ve been thinking too short term when you should’ve been thinking long term or vice-versa. It could come down to something simple like killing the NPC (Non – Player Character) on your left rather than the one on the right.

The bottom line is, you get a second chance.

In life… you don’t get a second chance.

That time when you were a kid and stole money from your parents? Well, they’re going to remember that and it will haunt you a lot more than it haunts them. Trust me, over 10 years and I still feel guilty.

Occasions when you make a bad decision because you figured it was the way to go, it was the smart move – the safe move. It would setup your career and take you to the heights everybody expects you to reach.

For the record atleast with English Literature as my major I would’ve been able to quote Shakespeare and impress women!

The times when you walked out of your friends house in the middle of a party because you felt unappreciated or insulted, and days later you had too much pride to say “I may have been wrong! I’m sorry!”. After all you keep asking yourself: “Were you wrong? Was your pride misplaced?”

Note: Pride is always misplaced. You are always wrong. Regardless of what you tell yourself.

And finally, those special moments where you meet certain women and you connect with them and they with you. Then you go and do something that completely screws it up. It could be writing a blog post about them or something as simple as cutting off communication with them.  You can never pinpoint what happened, but something did.

A year later, you still wonder would things have been different if you had done something different? The crazy part is, you’re not even sure what you could’ve done different. After all this isn’t a video game where shooting the NPC on the left would give you a better result than the one on the right.

To add insult to injury, you don’t have a Redo to help you make a different decision.

Fact is I want a Redo. There is a lot I want to Redo.

Unfortunately, life isn’t a video game.

You don’t get Redo’s.

In my mind the closest thing to a Redo is getting drunk and posting about how all I want is a Redo, and hoping the right person reads it and decides they do as well.

Note: Do not mistake a Redo for an apology. It’s not. It’s just a Redo. Subtle but important difference.

In the meantime, you can always play a video game and lose yourself in virtual reality hoping that life will immitate it and feel sorry for yourself.

It won’t get you anywhere, but it sure does make you feel good.