“Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't, either way you're right” – well done Mr Ford.

This is the start of a brand new year and not the type of post you might generally expect at this time of year. Generally we would be discussing new ideas springing forth and starting a fresh. However for me right now it's all about not giving up. My life it seems has this lesson embedded in it deeply. I wondered then how some give in and give up whilst others under the same conditions soar far above the clouds.

I read this for the first time today:
He who knows not and knows he knows not, is simple - Teach him
He who knows not and knows not he knows not, is a fool - Avoid him
He who knows and knows not he knows is asleep - Wake him
He who knows and knows he knows is wise - Follow him

Is it this simple? Do some people simply “get it” and others do not. Perhaps with that insight comes a level of conviction and clarity that some seemingly do not ever grasp. Ignorance is bliss does not work for me. I remember saying for many years “what you don’t know, you don’t go looking for”, well I think now that “what you don’t know, you need to go looking for”. Perhaps it is all our experiences that teach us to never give up.

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got."

I love Edisons quote : "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

I think giving up is easy, it is surrendering, losing control and saying to the Universe you cannot be bothered any more, this is too hard for me. I think it is important to perhaps remember the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough.

We should shine, we should strive, grow, evolve, love, and become the luminescent magic glowing souls we were destined to be.

Mandela used this quote in one of his speeches; it is another favourite of mine:  “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

I found some lovely quotes that I think reinforce my beliefs here and perhaps can help us when we feel that quitting would be easier, drawing on some of the worlds greatest heroes and s-heroes shows us how we all start from the same place it’s just what happens from that place that makes all the difference.

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. -- Maya Angelou

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened; vision cleared; ambition inspired, and success achieved. -- Helen Keller

What comes out of you when you are squeezed is what is inside you. -- Wayne Dyer

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who overcomes his enemies, for the hardest victory is victory over self. -- Aristotle

Success is not measured by what a man accomplishes, but by the opposition he has encountered and the courage with which he has maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds. -- Charles Lindbergh

Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. -- Barbara Johnson

To achieve the impossible, one must think the absurd; to look where everyone else has looked, but to see what no else has seen. -- Anonymous

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. -- Nelson Mandela

A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away. -- Gene Roddenberry

Fall down seven times, get up eight. -- Japanese Proverb

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. -- Vince Lambardi

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing. --Abraham Lincoln

If you take too long in deciding what to do with your life, you'll find you've done it. -- George Bernard Shaw

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today. -- Dale Carnegie

A competitive world has two possibilities for you: you can lose or, if you want to win, you can change. -- Lester C. Thurow

Perhaps I’m just not built to give up, it’s not part of my DNA, some moments are harder than others, those times that seem to pull you to depths you previously thought were far out of your league, and then just before you think you cannot possibly go any further an untapped reserve of strength comes to the surface and you’re back out there again, ready for the brilliant part of the journey.

And finally in Mr Churchill's words “Never, never, never, never give up.”