Or is it?
Life is what you make it. You have free will to do what you want. You can make good choices or bad choices. Sometimes people criticize you and put you down. Don't let that ever stop you because some of the most successful people in life are the ones that were criticized the most. Think about Fred Astaire being told he would never be a dancer or Abraham Lincoln who failed at one thing after another only to become our president. Don't let anyone call you a failure! Sometimes you can be your own worst enemy. If you don't believe in yourself, who will?
