Just before you master a new job or task, your duties usually seem overwhelming and if you listen to your instincts, you might think giving up is the best thing to do.

That is the very moment you need to hold on. For soon, you get used to the task that initially seemed unbearable. It means you have outgrown your old limits and have developed tougher muscles to take on more challenging tasks. You are growing.

A point will come when you feel like running away from anything that reminds you of your mistakes. You’ve messed up and you can’t wait for the opportunity to go elsewhere, to hide yourself and start afresh.

While that opportunity to go elsewhere and start afresh hasn’t come, pay attention to the people around you. Those who are there for you. Those who have your welfare at heart even though you have nothing to offer them in exchange for their kind deeds. Those hurting you. Those who only look for you when they need something from you. Those who feel you are too inferior to be their friend, to be their companion.

Watch them closely. One day you will make it to that seat reserved for you among the great. And you will need to know where to keep your articles of gold, silver, bronze, clay, and wood in your house and what purposes they must serve. How can you know the value and place of everyone if you never paid attention, if you never watched them closely?

So as you warm up for the game ahead, let those who want to hurt you do as they please. And let the sweat from the warm-up and jogging disinfect the wounds and that cut on your eyebrow. One day you will look at yourself in the mirror. These scars will remind you of the many things you overcame and the many more you will forever overcome.

And don’t forget, when you are done pushing through this difficult, dark tunnel, there is a place for you in the light, a seat reserved for you among the great.