Don’t leave a stone unturned. It’s always something, to know you have done the most you could.

Full effort buys something even when it does not buy the result. Having tried everything you could see to try gives a certain steadiness afterwards, whatever the outcome, because the question of whether you held back has already been answered. That steadiness is modest, but it is real, and it is one of the few things in an uncertain situation that stays in your hands.

When something you care about is still undecided, ask whether there is a stone you have been avoiding out of pride or fear of the answer, and whether you have the strength to lift it. And when something is already over, remember that hindsight shows options that were never visible at the time, and that what you could do was always limited by what you could see and bear then.