Today, I'm going to share a story.

A story of a king and his guard. This story has been the basis of all my optimism and determination.

One day, a king, his advisor, and his soldiers were going hunting in a faraway forest. As the king entered the forest, he took out his sword and accidentally cut off his thumb. He started screaming and yelling in pain.

"Go get the doctor. Look! My thumb got cut off. Hurry!" He yelled at his people. Everyone started running around trying to find someone to help the king as soon as possible.

Out came the advisor who walked forward laughing and said, "King, relax. Don't worry--whatever happens, happens for the best."

The king paused and looked at the advisor as if there was something wrong with him.

"Have you gone mad?!" He yelled. "Do you know what you're saying? I thought you were on my side!" He stopped and glared at his advisor, and then snapped at his soldiers. "Leave the hunting to me and take him. Lock him up in a prison and beat him all night. When morning comes, kill him."

The soldiers took the advisor and did exactly what the king asked them to. They took him to the prison and whipped him all night.

Meanwhile, the king continued on his hunt alone. As he was doing so, a tribe kidnapped him. The hung him upside down and started doing a religious dance around him. He was going to be their sacrifice to their God.

Suddenly, one of the guys notices the king's thumb, and tells everyone to stop. For a sacrifice to be accepted, the person/animal or whatever they would sacrifice had to be unharmed, and the king had a cut thumb. And so, they let go of him.

As the king runs back to his castle, he can't help but cry. The morning sun had started to rise and he was afraid his soldiers had already killed his advisor.

He ran faster and faster. He called for his advisor at the top of his lungs, over and over again.

As he reached the castle, he sees that the soldiers were just preparing to kill the advisor. The king ran to the advisor and held his feet. "Please forgive me! I made a terrible mistake. You were right: whatever happens, happens for the best. Look because of you, I am alive today. And look at me, I'm such a bad person, I did this to you."

The advisor, in lots of pain, said with a smile, "No, my king, it's okay. Whatever happens, happens for the best."

The king stopped and looked at his advisor as if he had seriously gone mad. "What are you saying?! What do you mean that whatever happens, happens for the best?! How can you being hung all night and whipped, on your way to getting killed be for any good?!"

"Look, my king, if you hadn't told the soldiers to take me, and I was with you, instead of sacrificing you, they would've sacrificed me!"

Here's what I got from this story, which I'm sure you also understood: Whatever happens, happens for the best.

How many of you believe in luck? How many of you believe that good luck is a very big component of being successful?

I also believe in luck, however, I only believe in good luck. I don't believe that there is anything such as bad luck in our lives.

Because whatever happens...happens for the best.

Which means that if there is something bad going on in your life right now, it feels bad in this moment, but it isn't really bad. As time goes by, you start to realize that even all the bad that happened to you, happened for the best.

Live your life with this thought in your head and I am positive, that even at the worst of times, even when it feels like you're rolling down the mountain you have worked so hard to climb, you will still find the strength to get back up and walk back up that same mountain, only this time to reach further and further up-- closer and closer to the very top.