Let’s all try to remember the story of the tiny frogs and listen to our own hearts.

It has worked for me in my writing career and the fact that at 86, I’m still writing once a week for many newspapers and bulletins.

Once upon a time, there was a bunch of tiny frogs who arranged a running competition. The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower.

A big crowd had gathered around this tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants. The race began.

Honestly, no one in the crowd really believed that the tiny frogs could ever reach the top of the tower. So, instead of really cheering them on, you began to hear statements like, “Oh, it’s way to difficult,” or, “They will never make it to the top,” and, “Not a chance they will succeed, the tower is too high!”

The tiny frogs heard all of this and began collapsing one by one. The crowd went wild, “It is just too difficult!”

More tiny frogs got tired and gave up, but there was one tiny frog who continued higher and higher and higher.

This one would just not give up.

At the end, everyone had given up climbing the tower except for the one tiny frog.

Then all the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to now how this one frog managed to do it. Another contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to reach his goal. It turned out that the winner was deaf.

End of story.

The view from the mountain is wondrous.

Jean Brody is a passionate animal lover and mother. Her column has appeared in the Sun for more than 25 years.