I just submitted a paper for publication. I am not sure how I feel about it, but I have been working on it for several months (close to a year) and have suffered many sleepless nights over this. I was reading some old messages with my mates last year in which I was complaining about my workload, stress, desperation etc. It is crazy to think that I have finally managed to finish this. A few months ago I was so stuck in this project (and so daunted by the magnitude of it) that I never would have thought that I would be able to finish this, let alone write a paper out of it, but somehow I have managed to do this. I can’t say that I am particularly proud of this, since this is only a small paper, though the feeling of being able to finish something that I never thought I would be able to is somewhat encouraging. I am now embarking on two new projects. They look pretty scary, and I have no idea how or where to start. But perhaps in a few months’ time I’ll be able to say to myself, ‘Yes! I have finally finished this.’ Everything looks hard at the beginning, but with hard work, persistence and resilience we should be able to conquer all obstacles that come our way. At the beginning of this week, I wrote a short motivational blog. As we are now at the end of the week, I would like to offer another motivational quote: ‘Don’t give up’. Happy 2017 everyone.