Do not quit

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that matters”.

re-examine life’s decisions is certainly the most difficult part of moving on. When the answer is no, or not yet, or when the chosen door remains locked despite the continuous rapping, deciding on what to do next is heartcrushing, especially when we have invested a lot – time, money, energy, and emotions.

Perhaps we asked too much, failing to see other beautiful things that we already have. Perhaps we are knocking at the wrong door and the next openings should lead to a better ground where we could really grow and shine. Perhaps, we made the wrong choices, followed the wrong crowd, and trusted our own fallible knowledge. But, as Jobs said: “we can only connect the dot backwards”. As long as we keep going, and keep believing that we have a purpose in life, the significance of our experiences, including our failures and successes, will be revealed, often in the most astonishing and mysterious ways.

My father often reminded me that all of us are born winners, and winners should never quit. That even in the most disheartening moment, we shrug of the dirt from our fall, pick up our broken pieces, and keep going. That, despite the challenges of everyday, we put up a smile and get things done. In times of life’s calamities and tests that expose our mettle, we show the world that we were raised just like eggs that will harden in the boiling water, not like potatoes that will turn mushy inside. We are born winners, and winners never quit.

TO-o0o“Easy for you to say”, a friend replied after I encouraged him. He told me how he sold his car and made expensive loans just to review in Manila away from his family for almost a year. Even in his genius-level IQ, he failed a couple of times in the bar exams to his constant surprise. He became distant, questioning even his well-stud-