- Theory is cool and all. Big words, clever solutions, flowcharts—awesome.

  - But if you never use them, they just stay as trivia. Useless until it’s too late.

  - You don’t learn to swim by reading about backstrokes. Eventually, you gotta get wet.

  ---

  I spent three weeks setting up a “test run” for Alex. No zombies, no screaming, no timed boss fight. Just a broken-down gas station, a semi-stocked convenience store, a rusted-out hardware shop. Nothing too hard. Just enough tension to make her work for it.

  I told her, “Today, I’m not going with you. You’re going in alone.”

  She lit up—like I’d just handed her a diploma. Or approval. Like she’d been waiting for this moment. “I won’t let you down,” she said, with that nervous-but-determined smile.

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  I watched her from the rooftop across the street. Hidden. Silent.

  At first, she approached with a sense of purpose. Backpack tight. Bat in hand. Steps steady.

  Then she stopped.

  Ten feet from the entrance.

  And stood there.

  And stood there.

  And stood there.

  I checked my watch. Fifteen minutes. Thirty.

  She wasn’t being cautious—she was frozen. Like someone had unplugged her from the wall and forgot to charge her back up.

  Every movement she almost made… I saw the calculations behind them. “What if there’s someone inside?” “What if I make noise?” “What if I pick the wrong thing?” “What if I forget something?”

  What if I fail? What if I fail you?

  She never opened the door. She backed away. Slowly. Eyes wide. Breathing uneven.

  I met her back at the bookstore. She looked down. Didn’t say a word. And I… didn’t push.

  Not yet.

  This isn’t about passing or failing anymore.

  This is about applying what you’ve learned when it matters. When there’s no one there to say “Good job.” When the world doesn’t wait for you to finish second-guessing.

  So yeah—here it is:

  Apply what you learn.

  Not because someone’s watching.

  Not to impress.

  But because someday, no one else will be there to help you.

  And the world won’t care about your potential—it only cares what you do.