you cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?

-robert louis stevenson

the above is one of the author's favorite quotes of all time. in the face of overwhelming adversity, when it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders, when everything's threatening to fall on top of you like a house of cards, leaving you buried under fathomless depths of rubble, and when it seems like there's nothing left to do but to quit, gather yourself together, and make an unwavering stand. give it your all. at the very least, you'll go down fighting and with no regrets because you did your best. if you make it through however, a hard won victory always tastes very, very sweet. but either way, you are better off in some sense, because the lessons learned from adversity are priceless.

why do we fall down? so we can learn to pick ourselves up.

-thomas wayne, from batman begins

falling is never the end. life has an infinitesimal number of possibilities such that if one pathway doesn't take us to where we want to go, there is always another. but it should never be an option to choose the path of least resistance by virtue of its simplicity alone. we fall, we get up, and learn from our mistakes and refrain from making the same ones in the future. the lessons might be painful, but their importance can never be undermined.

if you weren't given the gift you can't get the gift so the best you can do – if your goal is important – is work as hard as you possibly can, pay attention every hour of every day and then maybe, maybe if you've done enough and been smart enough you'll emerge from the muck of mediocrity to shine a bit brighter than you shone before.

-mark twight

thus, even if it seems as if the odds are stacked high against you, face it with all the grit and resolve you have, and more. destroy those inhibitions and weaknesses that hold you back, push yourself as far as you can, further than you've ever been, and take on anything that stands in your way.

and hey you, if you're reading this from there,

一緒にがんばりましょうね。