Another thing from Mark Twight's Kiss or Kill, this one from "I
hurt, therefore I am".

-=-=-
I spent 12 weeks on crutches after knee surgery. During recovery
I surrounded myself with wannabes, pretend-to-bes, has-beens, and
never-will-bes. I met people who wasted their talent or were
afraid of it. They taught me why I hadn't become a good climber.
Like them, I was afraid to succeed, scared to commit. I didn't
want to be any better than anyone else. Eventually, I sickened of
people, myself included, who don't think enough of themselves to
make something of themselves--people who did only what they had
to and never what they could have done. I learned from them the
infected loneliness that comes at the end of every misspent day.
I knew I could do better.
-=-=-