NeverGiveUp

As some of you know, I have taken on darbian's Super Marihour Challenge. This past weekend was filled with PB's and firsts for me, but first I'd like to reflect on what this past weekend means to me.

The journey (so far) of Super Mario 64 - 1 star:
As of last Thursday, I hadn't finished a single run after trying for 2 months. Talk about frustrating. Streaming it was tough, just failing for hours and hours. I saw a comment on YouTube, claiming that no one else could complete this challenge. People talking about changing the challenge because SM 64 was too tough of a category. It was all very discouraging to hear. I had done all of the individual things to complete a run, just never back to back or without savestates. I was determined though. I sat down to do "attempts", although they were just attempts to finish. After a decent run of the first 5, I finally completed a run of SM64 in 30 minutes. This was all I needed for confidence, one completed run. I ran 1 star back and got a 16:xx on my first try.

It. was. on.

I churned out Marihour challenge PB's in 3 straight attempts with my new confidence. I was hitting the BLJs consistently and somewhat quickly. It culminated lastnight when I got the SBLJ around the 4 minute mark. With that start, a 10 minute time was within reach. I finished with a 12:57 after a rocky finish. As I said on stream: Just because challenge is difficult doesn't mean you have to change it. Set your goals and reach them. Don't change it when it gets tough. My goal of 59:59 won't change.

I'm reminded of an excerpt of the poem "Don't Quit":

	Success is failure turned inside out
	The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
	And you never can tell how close you are,
	It may be near when it seems so far,
	So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
	It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit. -Anonymous

Take this as encouragement if you are down with your speedgame, or even your real-life goals, you never know what you'll accomplish. The NeverGiveUp mentality is strong, and I definitely have it. It may take a while, but I will complete this challenge, I hope you see it when it happens.

Thanks for reading!
-Lack
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Full "Don't Quit" Poem : https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140901045623-57497113--don-t-quit-an-inspirational-poem-by-anonymous