One must always stay strong. No matter how rough life's road is; no matter how many times you have tried and failed to succeed, messed up, or had bad luck; you must always try again until you win. Winning is not necessarily about "beating" someone, in life or in a game. If you are playing chess against an infant and win, did you really gain anything? If you strike out in a baseball or softball game, did you learn something? Your past does not matter; it is already done and cannot be changed, though you can learn from it. The present matters, as your decisions determine your future. When you reach that future, your past will look a bit better. As life continues, your distant, rough past becomes a mere speck. We all will forgive, we all will forget, as long as you learned from your experience. You must do the same for yourself.

-A Good Coach of Mine

Pain goes away.

You can do anything you put your mind to.

As a child, I took Mixed Martial Arts. The first person I met was my instructor, a close friend, and a life coach. On a cold January morning, I walked into a building full of intimidating martial artists. I was directed into a small room, with an instructor. He taught me the basics: kicking, punching, et cetera. He opened a box full of wooden boards, and said that I could break one board in half with a simple kick. I was scared to death of this notion, and refused to do it. In my mind, there was no way an eight year old could snap wood in two. The man shook his head, and explained that I should pretend the wood wasn't there. My goal was to get to the other side; the wood didn't matter. Before I knew what happened, I kicked the small square of wood and successfully broke it. A little later in my Martial Arts career, I still had the same instructor. We were sparring for the first time, and I accidentally hurt myself. He said, "Pain goes away."