As a child, I was always told to never give up
On my dreams
On my aspirations
On myself.
I was encouraged to keep moving forward
Whether in the face of adversity
Or in the face of responses I had yet to understand.
It was a simpler time,
With little capacity required
As I was a child.
As a teenager, I was told that mistakes were going to be made
Though I came to think that mistakes were definitive
To the person
To the prior repertoire
To the inner-workings of the character.
Be it in the light of day
Or in the darkest of nights,
It was a complex time,
With the fullest of capacity required,
As I was still learning.
Though here I am
Somewhere caught in between that youthful place
And the realities of an adult world.
The world has revealed so much in a short period of time
But no lesson learned has come without cost.
I see now that failure is permissible
In fact, it is necessary
In order to accomplish
In order to rejuvenate
In order to grow.
It has become clear that no lesson learned has come without cost.
It is finally clear.