Taking Places

Prologue

When they tell you practice doesn't make better, they're lying. No, there isn't such a thing as perfect, almost ever. But practice is the only thing you can do to improve. Every step. Every stroke. Every click. Every single one is what leads to that unknown place called success. People who reside there are still fighting. Why? Because it's always rising. Only when they die do they finally become weightless, and are free to float freely in the realm you fought to.

Sometimes you don't even realize that you've reached a higher level. They all seem the same while you're flailing with little use. Little use, however, is still use. And when your fight ends, you'll sink back again to the bottom, and see that you had ended up higher than you thought you ever did. That's why you can never stop fighting a battle you've started. It doesn't matter if you chose this battle not expecting a huge fight, or someone else thrust you into it. It's still a fight you must participate in or risk being beaten down by the inevitable regret. Because you know that deep down, you so want that win, that glory that fills that magical place called success. Maybe you'll never reach it. Maybe your success is elsewhere. But you don't know until you try. You must fight all the slow starts, wiggle and writhe, until you've loosened up the soil and you can blast up ahead and fight like there's no end in sight. Like the sheet over your eyes has finally freed and you can fly again.

You must fight. Even if it seems impossible. Because it's better to risk success than to regret the darkness later.