There's only one way to fail - that's to quit trying. 

Read any stories about truly successful people, and you'll read about a series of failures, until...

"We'll cross that bridge when we skim beneath it."

I find myself waiting on your sweet advice
from down here somewhere south of paradise
and won't it be so very nice
to finally know where I stand

I sit here in the afternoons
trying to strum or finger pick a better tune
and it won't come no not too soon
I'll finally know who I am

I'm still here, hanging on your prayers
lost to the world, lost to my cares
troubled by what I thought I'd dare
I see myself in what I began
(c) 2013 - Robin Seaver

Sometimes the pain reaches in so deeply, ya can't even feel it anymore, no longer sure if its numb or if its just a lack of contrast... there are things in life ya just can't afford to lose - but ya lose them anyway, when it seems there is just not nearly enough Grace to go around, ya have no choice but to fall - knees to the ground.

-R


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSYPr_zTQhY

It's morning, and I feel it,

All the sins I was in last night.
Dear Jesus, please save me,
'cause I think I've fallen down into the depths this time.
And my dreamin' of still sleepin'
I wonder if I'm ever gonna make it out.

Now you're gone, and I'm here,
And I feel so bitter.
Waking up alive, another day.
It never seems easy
When you're fighting, another day.
When I look at what I'm facing,
Don't know if I can take it.
I could scream out loud,
But I'm wasting my time.
This pain only reminds me, I'm still alive.

Now these feelings, they're creeping,
Like a chill crawling up my spine.
It's lonely, it's not easy,
Coming home all alone each and every night.

And as time goes by, I feel so bitter.
Waking up alive, another day.
It never seems easy
When you're fighting, another day.
When I look at what I'm facing,
Don't know if I can take it.
I could scream out loud,
But I'm wasting my time.
This pain only reminds me, I'm still alive.

Don't wake me up, if there's gonna be hell to pay.
All the weight of the world keeps pushing me down.
(pushing me down)
So, just let me sleep,
Even if I'm in too deep.
Keep me locked in my dreams,
So I can't get out. (I can't get out)

It's been so hard, but I'm doing much better.
Waking up alive, another day.
It never seems easy
When you're fighting, another day.
When I look at what I'm facing,
Don't know if I can take it.
I could scream out loud,
But I'm wasting my time.
This pain only reminds me, I'm still alive.
This pain only reminds me (I'm still alive)
This pain only reminds me (I'm still alive)
I could scream out loud,
But I'm wasting my time.
This pain only reminds me, I'm still alive.

I'm Still Alive - Saving Abel

"and up it went... grace untethered"

the wall he faces seems impenetrable - an event horizon

beyond which nothing is knowable, for here there be dragons, and there, wild beasts...

terra ignota timens nullam requiem

From "The Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius

...as translated by George Long 

From my brother Severus, to love my kin, and to love truth, and to love justice; and through him I learned to know Thrasea, Helvidius, Cato, Dion, Brutus; and from him I received the idea of a polity in which there is the same law for all, a polity administered with regard to equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and the idea of a kingly government which respects most of all the freedom of the governed; I learned from him also consistency and undeviating steadiness in my regard for philosophy; and a disposition to do good, and to give to others readily, and to cherish good hopes, and to believe that I am loved by my friends; and in him I observed no concealment of his opinions with respect to those whom he condemned, and that his friends had no need to conjecture what he wished or did not wish, but it was quite plain. 

. . . 

To the gods I am indebted for having good grandfathers, good parents, a good sister, good teachers, good associates, good kinsmen and friends, nearly everything good. Further, I owe it to the gods that I was not hurried into any offence agai st any of them, though I had a disposition which, if opportunity had offered, might have led me to do something of this kind; but, through their favour, there never was such a concurrence of circumstances as put me to the trial.

--- nicely put, Marcus.