if I can overcome this, I can overcome anything.

After a flood, people carry ruined carpet out to the pavement for days. There's no feeling of heroism in it. There's just the next roll, and then the one behind it.

What you learn in the middle of a hard thing isn't strength exactly. It's information about yourself: that you kept going when it wasn't inspiring, that you asked to borrow the van, that you slept and started again.

That evidence stays on file. When something large arrives next, you'll have grounds to think you can stand in it.