You are strong-willed.

I admire you. Life gives you challenges and you face them head on with your head held high. You try to learn from every situation you end up in, trying to balance out the setbacks with achievements. You keep moving forward, no matter what the obstacle is.

Your motivation doesn’t dwindle much; after all, you keep on looking at the bright side of things. If something didn’t work out like you had planned it on your head, you set a new goal. You try to improve. You do not resign. You hate the word ‘settle’.

Not many people are like you. You are aware that your life isn’t defined by one single thing, but the accumulation of many. You have family, friends, dreams, and aspirations. You are someone’s child, a significant other, a best friend, a friend, an athlete, a future dream waiting to be reached. So you know better than anyone that when you fail in one of them, the frustration is overcome by your mindset. It’s okay, you can still do better, has become the constant, fervent whisper behind your closed lips.

People conform. They are okay with their situation. They see themselves as helpless under the circumstances, blaming external factors. They resign to what they have been given like there is no way to overcome it. You don’t understand this. You see potential in everyone; a spark in their eyes revealing the great things they could do. You wish that those strangers could see it, too, so they’d understand why they should keep trying. The belief that anything is possible as long as you work hard resides within you strongly.

Trying is not shameful. Getting back up for the 101st time after being knocked down 100 times is not shameful. Having perseverance is not shameful.

Once you have set a new goal upon a failure, you strive for it heedlessly. Your passion shines through, and your aim shoots up even higher. You want this. You need it. But you know things don’t come easily just by wishing upon them. You know that you might need that extra hour to study more, a review session with the teacher, more discipline to repeat what you learned, or a mental preparation to react better at things that annoy you.

You want to be better, always.

You are very aware of your human nature, prone to mistakes and errors. You know you’re not perfect, yet you still want to be the best version of yourself possible. That doesn’t mean you’re bound to fall for people’s opinion of you, but although you hide it, you’re sensitive to their glances and the comments they make. Your self-perception overrules them all. When you feel happy, you spread it as if you were rain sprinkling through the tiniest cracks, and everyone around you receives at least a tiny bit of that smile.

You are one that lives by example. You don’t like preaching, nor imposing on people to lean one way or another, but you hope that by how you act, they will be inspired. You are no quitter. You hate excuses. Your pain threshold is high—your determination and adrenaline overrule anything that deters you physically from reaching your goal. Mind over matter.

You are responsible. You own up to it when you fail, you own up to it when you don’t reach a goal, you own up to it, regardless. When success strike though, you are always thankful. You appreciate the encouragement, the support, the kind words. Your successes are more shared than just your own. You do not think you will be in your position without the people that surround you.

That’s why others’ successes are celebrated with the innermost joy you have. You are genuinely happy about people reaching their dreams, because instead of looking on with concealed jealousy, your eyes see hope. A proof that it’s possible to reach one’s dreams, and that you are heading in the same path. You believe in God’s perfect timing, and you know that your chance will come.

You think no one notices. But I do. And I bet a lot of people out there do, too.

So for now, just keep moving forward. Like you always do.