#39

A MAD collab with Eirik Leren

Life

You were a man on a mission.
A project called “yourself.”
Your whole life an audition –
to be chosen, liked, understood.

You learned the lines, smiled in the right places,
built yourself like a résumé,
delivered on expectations you never questioned.
But who was the judge?
Who decided what was “good enough”?

You forgot to ask the one question that mattered:
What do I actually want?
Now your best days are quietly slipping away,
while you still wait for validation,
for the call that says you got the part.

But maybe the stage was never real.
Maybe you were.

Livet

Du var en mann med et oppdrag.
Et prosjekt kalt «deg selv».
Hele livet en audition –
for å bli valgt, likt, forstått.

Du lærte replikkene, smilte på riktig sted,
bygde deg selv som en søknad,
leverte på krav du aldri stilte spørsmål ved.
Men hvem var dommeren?
Hvem bestemte hva som var «bra nok»?

Du glemte å stille det viktigste spørsmålet:
Hva vil jeg egentlig?
Nå glir dine beste dager stille forbi,
mens du fortsatt venter på bekreftelsen,
på at du fikk rollen.

Men kanskje var scenen aldri ekte.
Kanskje var du det.