Being stubborn and salty is never a good combo if you want want to live a normal life. When you are faced with a difficult challenge and you’re stuck on it for a while, normal people might leave and try again another time. Alas, if you’re like me, then you're too stubborn to give up and you have to continue until you complete the task or accept humiliating defeat. My first real experience with this would be my fight against Ludwig, The Accursed/The Holy Blade. The first boss of the Old Hunter’s DLC for "Bloodborne" was the toughest boss I’ve ever faced in my life. I spent 15 hours of my time and didn’t sleep for two days straight just because I was too stubborn to sleep with the feeling of salt emanating from every one of my pores. I went to class that Monday with no sleep, and during every, break I ran back to the dorm for that small chance of beating Ludwig. It never came. Each time I got him into his second stage, he would regain health because his cutscene would activate every time I got the third visceral on him. His second form is just as bad as his first form. If I wasn’t at full health, then every one of his moves would oneshot me. I look back on this dark time in my life a lot because I wonder how long it would have taken me if I wasn’t in new game plus four.

Video games aren’t the only place saltimatums can appear in. Real life decisions can fall under this category too. When I go on jogs, sometimes I tire out quickly, but then the saltimatum kicks in and asks me, “Are you really going to call it quits here? You better make it the entire way.” And just like that, the challenge is issued. This can be used in a negative or positive way depending on how you look at it. You can either see it as fool-hearted stubbornness or as a way to achieve a goal no matter the obstacles that arise. The only real challenge to the saltimatum is to not let yourself be consumed by it. It doesn’t do well to the your mind or soul.