In my own life, I've had opportunities and struggles.

Part of this existence is experiencing both the negative and positive. I've had the opportunity to let everything I worked for float away, and I've had the opportunity to throw in the towel when the going has gotten tough. Let me tell you something: If something isn't going right, you owe it to yourself to keep pushing through. If you're thinking about giving up, get rid of that mentality, because giving up means that all the work you've already put in was in vain.

In life, we go through seasons of struggle and joy alike. The key isn't to focus on the struggles, but to remember that seasons are temporary. If you can keep on keeping on and never quit on yourself, you'll go farther than you can imagine. If you can remember that failure is a part of the journey and not the end of it, you'll make it to your destination.

The journey is long and difficult, full of failure and setbacks and losing people you really love. You've got to keep those failures from changing you for the worst, or you'll lose to them. If you can use everything that was made to break you to build you up instead, you'll become stronger for it. If you can use your failures to learn and setbacks to find gratitude, those failures will be something you thank God for in the future.

I want you to understand a simple but hard truth: Some things have to end so that better things can begin.

Certain things can't work out perfectly, and people will quit on you. It doesn't matter. You've got to make sure you get up every single day to fight, because feeling pain is still moving forward. Pain is part of the journey, and it's not something any one of us is capable of avoiding.

The journey is made up of imperfections and failures just as much as it's made up of true beauty and real success. There's no way to avoid one while accepting the other, and the only way to avoid failure is to stop completely.

If your vision is truly important to you, it's time to burn every single figment of doubt in your mind. You've got to kill your low self-esteem and have faith in yourself, because you're the only person who's going to give you the life you deserve. Success is a lofty goal, but it's fully achievable for everyone reading this right now. Stop letting inconveniences turn you away from your commitments. Stop letting failure sway you from your vision. If a little setback is all it took to dissuade you from success, did you really deserve success?

Remember, it all starts with you.