I trust that my dedication and hard work are paying off.

Progress is almost impossible to see from inside it. Day to day the work looks identical — same desk, same difficulty, same hour disappearing into it.

People who record themselves practising an instrument know the trick. Play something today, then play the take from eight months ago. The gap is obvious on the recording and was invisible the entire way through.

What you cannot do is check daily. The measurement runs slower than the effort, which is the only reason trust is required at all — not as optimism, but as the workable way to keep going while the evidence is still assembling.