There is something quite satisfying
in striving
in struggling
in attempting
to do as much as you can
– to do everything you can
in the service of a goal.

Even if you fail
simply endeavoring
straining towards something
even having the desire to try…
it is grave accomplishment.

I have given my all
to only a handful of things
and in none of them
have I achieved anything like success
and I have decided
to declare
that I am proud of the effort
– far more so than ashamed
in the unfortunate results.

I have decided it
I have declared it
and eventually
I may actually believe it.

I will continue telling myself this
until it becomes true
or I die
and either way
I will have done everything
in the name of that cause.