Effort is necessary to keep walking.
But the key that opens the door seems to be something else.
I do not often feel that I obtained something simply because I accumulated enough effort.
Of course, I cannot say that is true for everyone.
I am not an athlete, nor have I reached the end of a long and disciplined road.
Still, in my own experience, what appears at the end of steady effort often arrives from another angle—
suddenly, almost casually.
The F chord on the guitar was like that.
I could not press it at all.
After struggling for days, I stopped playing for about a week.
And the next time I picked up the guitar, it worked.
I do not know why.
It simply rang.
All the question marks in my head were silenced by the sound.
I was fifteen.