I am very much an optimist in life, but I am also very much a realist. With each passing year, I understand more fully that with the greatness of each day there are also many obstacles. What you focus on will determine what you achieve. Success in life is not an easy matter. Progress in any form and happiness or joy in any form require constant effort.

Obstacles exist that might discourage you if you are weak or feel underserving. In some seasons of life, it feels like when you overcome one obstacle, another one fills the void. What you have to understand to enjoy life fully is that life is designed to be a story of achievement in spite of adversity, not in the absence of adversity. Without adversity, the achievement could not exist.

Do not doubt yourself, for where doubt resides confidence cannot. Do not neglect yourself, for with neglect comes loss. Do not imagine yourself to be less than you are nor more than you are, but seek always to become all of which you are capable. Do not allow yourself to become arrogant or discourteous, for both are characteristics adopted by those who seek to cover their weaknesses. Do not waste time regretting the past, but invest that time wisely by preparing a better future.

Comparing your life to the growth of crops during the summer, realize that you are a fertile seed of the creator of all things. You are destined not to lie dormant but to spring forth from the soil called life and grow upward toward the unlimited horizons, to overcoming all obstacles in the process.