Down and Across

Our lives aren't so different from a crossword puzzle, sure. But the thing about life is we don't get to draw the grid; we take the rows and columns we're given. Our bodies, parents, mental health issues, all that. What we do get to do is fill the cells.

Because completion isn't a prerequisite for growth. Momentum is.

No one's perfect, but so many people pretend to be. That was why I liked Fiora. She lied, stole, manipulated, teased, and broke down just like everyone else. But she was an honest liar, self-admitted thief, straightforward tease, and transparent manipulator. And like the rest of us, she had bad days.

It's like liquor. You can struggle and drink it straight, or you can make yourself a mixed drink. Life works better with other people around. Always go for the fruity cocktail.

You're young. You're fighting your life out, and... I won't always be there to push you. But even as you take control of your future, even as you become your own man - please, please, consider your parents.

Her whole thing is grit. How if you choose a path and work hard and persist, even in the face of setbacks and fire-breathing dragons, you'll succeed.

You need to stop seeing yourself as a pansy and start seeing yourself as the badass, runaway rock star that you've become.

They were strict not because they wanted to torture me, but because they cared. I had taken their inch and blindly assumed they would give me a summerlong marathon.

I needed more time. I needed to keep experiencing life through new paths like crossword construction, pickup dares, nightlife, drinking, even identity theft. None of those paths qualified as a future career, and yet they helped me feel closer to the life I wanted.

Two steps forward, one back. Five forward, twelve back. Left, right, diagonal, down, across, and right back around the block. We're all just trying to keep moving. Sometimes we know where we're going and sometimes we get lost. But as long as we move, we grow.

Our lives aren’t so different from a crossword puzzle, sure. But the thing about life is we don’t get to draw the grid; we take the rows and columns we’re given. Our bodies, parents, mental health issues, all that. What we do get to do is fill the cells.

Scott, you're missing the point. Grit means when you set your mind on something, you give it a shot and persist.

My dad and I lived in our fantasy worlds where I'd pretend my failures never existed, and he, after some time, believed that I never failed but simply pressed pause. One of our fictions had to be true.

I'd figured out about this girl, it was this: she knew her facts. They had been decided. Her brain was confident. It might look squishy like other brains, but it was made of sharp-as-anything tacks.

Failure isn't permanent. Grit is the ability to learn and fail and learn some more. That ability is fluid, not fixed. You have the power to change.

His story bothered me at first, but then it gave me hope. It's never too late to take over the steering wheel of your life. Everything works out in the long run.

I didn't come out of DC with a career plan. But I came out grittier. I had to embrace my shortcomings, because they landed me there in the first place. I had to embrace my upbringing, my constant stream of thoughts. The shame shortcomings would lead to my next great adventure. I knew I'd keep pushing.