Maintain Poise (git gud at life)
When life hits you repeatedly, it's easy to get staggered, and then the real critical damage can be done. You need enough space between hits (challenges) to maintain and reset your poise, so that the next hit that comes along doesn't put you under.
Some of your poise comes from resilience and increasing armour, so that a small impact doesn't stagger you. But maintaining it comes from continuing to dodge and avoid hits, so that it has time to recover itself — six seconds in game, probably slightly longer IRL.
Relaxation Time Principle: system stability is achievable only if the system's relaxation time is shorter than the mean time between disturbances
Part of a series on Lessons from Elden Ring