In 2008, before getting MS, my son did a school report on stress and I remember thinking that I didn’t have any. (Wrong!) I was involved in many things and responsible for some, but I and my friends just figured, “Do what needs to be done. No whining. Just put your head down and keep going until it’s accomplished.” We all believed, “I can do hard things.”

Don’t Quit

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is strange with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns
And many a failure comes about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow
You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell just how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

For all the sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: “It might have been!”

—-John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)