Suffering though the microwave hallway

The beginning of every single month is always the worst time for me because it is always the busiest part of every month.

I've been working towards a major goal for the last 4 years. And after another 17 months, I will have achieved my goal and I'll figure out what I want to do after that.

In the last 4 years while working towards this goal, I've had times where I've wanted to shoot myself in the head, drive my car off a cliff, or just give up everything I've worked on just to live in a van in the desert.

What is the best way I could describe this struggle? I would say it would feel like the time I was playing Metal Gear Solid 4 and crawling though the microwave hallway.

It is a pretty moving scene. You have to navigate through a heat filled energy draining hallway in order to get to upload a virus to a computer. This scene happens right after Snake suffers a heart attack so you start out moving in the hallway at half speed. You want to move through this hallway as fast as possible but you don't have the option to run.

As you move, you notice your life bar is decreasing which urges you to try to move as fast as possible. But you can't run. As you progress, the nano machines in Snake's body start malfunctioning and Snake's body starts shutting down. You start limping at that point. All the while your life bar keeps depleting.

After some time, it keeps getting worse. Snake falls to the floor and your control stick stops working. To move Snake through the hallway, you have to start mashing the triangle button. So Snake starts crawling on his hands and knees to get out of the hallway.

By this point, the life bar is almost completely depleted. You might not be sure if it is empty or not but there is just one small little line left. You then notice that you stamina bar is depleting as well. You aren't sure if you are going to die in this hallway or not. Can you make it out in time?

Snake keeps suffering as the nano machines keep breaking. Snake falls to the floor again. You have to mash the button really hard just to get him up and moving again. So you see Snake move, he is crawling on his belly now. Using the shifting weight of his body to pull him forward. In order to hurry Snake along, you start getting pain in your thumb from mashing the button.

Eventually, you see the exit open and it looks like you have enough stamina to make it out of the hallway. But then Snake falls again. As the camera zooms in on his face, you mash the button to get Snake to drag his arms forward to try to make it out. Your stamina completely empties as the camera fades to black.

And you are left wondering. Is it over? Did I make it? Did I die?

Then the now loading screen comes up and you are glad you don't have to redo the hallway part.


Anyone working towards a really important life goal, realize that it is going to suck. It is going to feel miserable, isolating, painful, and probably lonely. You will have to make intense sacrifices. But, just like Snake in that hallway, you have to keep going and get out of there. You may be stuck in a situation where there is no other option. You have to either make it happen or perish trying.