You know that moment when you tell someone about an idea that you have and they act like you’ve said something as crazy as saying that aliens have invaded planet earth?

They look at you like you’re a crazy person who’s just escaped a hospital for mentally disturbed people. And when you ask for their opinion, they act like they don’t want to hurt your feelings so they say stuff that doesn’t really answer your question. “Who knows, man? Maybe it’s possible. Maybe you can do it. I don’t know.”

Those are the moments I found myself thinking about recently. I was watching the movie “Dawn of the Planets of the Apes” that came out last year (I told you I’m crazy about movies) when all of these thoughts started going through my head. The movie is basically about how one super-intelligent ape leads thousands of other educated apes (who can read, write and speak), as they try to live a life in the mountains, away from humans.

I thought about how crazy the idea is of apes that act like this. I realised that thirty years ago no one would have believed that it was even possible to make a movie that looks so realistic, but here the movie is now. And that’s not even the end of the story, because the movie actually had a lot of people around the world going absolutely crazy and paying to watch it. It became hugely successful.

But what if these kinds of movies had never been made? What if the people who made them had been too scared that no one would like to watch their movies? In fact, imagine if you hadn’t done all the great things that people said you couldn’t do. Life would be pretty sad, right?

Well, that’s exactly what I found myself thinking about when I was watching that movie. I mean, there are so many people out there that are ready to tell you that whatever your dreams are, they will never come true, no matter how hard you work.

In this young life of mine, I can’t tell you exactly how many of those people I’ve met – but it’s safe to say that there are a lot. And they all gave me different versions of negativity.

In 2005, for example, I started rapping and my neighbours used to laugh at me and tell me to stop trying to imitate black Americans and making a fool of myself. For a while I felt discouraged, but my late brother (may his soul continue to rest in peace) kept encouraging me to believe that I could make people listen to what I had to say. He tried his best to get me onto the stage to share my talents, but I was too scared.

But I’m glad to report, ladies and gentleman, that in 2013 I finally listened to my brother’s wisdom and took to the stage. I have been a performance poet since then. And this year I’ve become one of the best young poets in Cape Town. In fact, I’ve even been offered an opportunity to publish a poetry collection later on this year.

And that’s not even the end of the story.

On Friday my law lecturer called me into his office. I thought I was in trouble with something. But this man pulled out the results for a test I had written and he was so impressed with me. He sounded like he was close to tears when he told me I had “great potential” and begged me to come back with my answers and share them with the class of more than six hundred students. He told me my writing was so good that he had to share it with the class to show them how to write good legal essays. I walked out of there feeling like I was pretty close to tears as well. I mean, it was only a few months ago that I felt like a huge failure, because of not graduating, so now to be told but to be reminded again that I’m one of the brightest legal minds at my university (UWC) was a huge compliment. I couldn’t believe it!

So what does all of this tell you?

Well, in simple words, it tells you that almost anything is possible if you have the right belief, patience, hard work and guidance from those who care about you and your success. It tells you that you will encounter difficulties along the way and you might fall on your face and fail a couple of times, but you’ve got to stand up and keep going. Life is hard. Very hard! But if you push back even harder, it becomes a bit easier.

And now, ladies and gentleman, we’ve come to that time where you tell me what you think.

#ChatBack: What is your story?

Have you also experienced difficulties in your life?

And do you agree with me when I say that we all lose sometimes, but we’ve got to keep pushing until we win?