"Let a single future vision become armor At age ten, living in a children's home with no parents and no clear path out, David Cox heard a visiting karate instructor mention that college could be funded through scholarships. From that single conversation, he says it was 'like a patronus spell — a shield, a future guide, a sense of self-pride, dare I say self-love about this thing, my intelligence,' and 'from that moment on I was going to make it no matter what.' When you are stuck in circumstances that feel inescapable, finding even one concrete image of a different future — however distant — can function as a daily psychological shield against giving up. Source: David Cox, Armchair Expert, David Cox Episode"