Prologue

Every great achiever has failed at least once. That’s an undeniable truth. No one is exempt from losing… myself included.

My mother used to tell me that you don’t always win—and she was right. Ever since I was a child, I’ve never received any awards or recognition for my efforts. I got good grades simply because I did what I was supposed to do. There was no sense of achievement, no real pride in it.

My father would say, “That’s only natural. You don’t work—you just study.”
Maybe if I had grown up in hardship, getting perfect scores would’ve meant something.

But it didn’t.

It was just another obligation. Nothing more. Nothing worth remembering.

"Someday, all your efforts will be rewarded."

What a comforting lie.

Those words only fed the fragile ego I carried as a teenager. Still, I understand why people say things like that. Encouragement is the easiest way to motivate the young—to make them believe they’ll become great at something someday.

But as you grow older… you slowly begin to see the truth behind those expectations.

And it hurts.

Why do we fail?

Some people say you learn from your mistakes. If that were true, then I should’ve been a genius by now—considering how many failures I’ve accumulated over the years.

Still, there was no point in drowning in bitterness. Some people are born blessed—with talent, luck, or gifts that carry them far in life. Others… like me… drift through a sea of mediocrity, unable to protect anyone.

Not even ourselves.

At some point, it stops being about winning or losing. It becomes something else entirely.

Pride.

Everyone takes pride in something—their appearance, their intelligence, their personality. There had to be something within me that held value for others.

I just hadn’t found it yet.

But I knew it existed.

Because in this world, there’s no such thing as a person without worth.

Even the most insignificant individual has something.

Yes…

Even me.

Even if I hadn’t found my value yet, I knew it was out there somewhere.

All I had to do… was find it.