I suppose the one thing in life I hate the most is the concept of failure. If it whispers in my ear, I drown it out with busyness and determination. I just laugh. Any kind of grief or strife can be turned into the pick of gratitude if its power is embraced. My brushes with my own limits and tragedies have sharpened my proverbial pen and applied its tip to the context of others' lives.
Individual grief is a lariat for larger continents of tragedy.
When we make sense of our own lives, we give others license to probe their own. In a practical sense, my struggles have taught me to prioritize. In a literary sense, I believe that Alice Walker has been my most profound role model. She lost the sight in her right eye from a BB gun accident. What I share with Alice Walker is deformity and defamation and resuscitation of a sort.