As a child

my mother was always giving me advice

Of the many molding words she spoke

A particular set of them resounded the most in my mind.

She said, "There's always going to be someone better than you at something.

They could be prettier than you, or smarter, but that's the reason you can never stop working your hardest. If you never give up, you'll be someone else's 'someone better'."

It took longer than my hindsight would like admit to sink in, but it did.

Every day I become a better version of myself.

My curiosity guides me through labyrinths of knowledge that I may never comprehend the sheer magnitude of their architecture, but I can try. I will succeed, because I won't ever give up.

Someday, I'll pass my flame of curiosity,

and spark minds with my passion.

I make that particular someday, my everyday.

My mother taught me a lot of lessons in life,

one of them being that I'm not always right.

Those small insights have had a profound influence on my character.

They are the best influences because I don't have an unreasonable sense of entitlement.

I am going to earn my success and prove to the world that

I am more than meets the eye.