Days ago, I made a skirt for a friend’s daughter. Today, I noticed a message on my phone on WeChat (微信). It was my friend’s saying, “I know you worked hard on the skirt and it looks very nice, but Lingling doesn’t like the pattern (图案) on the skirt. Could you change it?”

I was angry and wanted to call her back. Then I suddenly thought of Grandma and what she had once done for me long ago.

It was a summer when I was eight. One day, Grandma decided to dress up my hair with some flowers. She spent a long time on it and she enjoyed doing that. When Grandma finished, she was so happy and I stood on a chair to look at myself in the mirror (镜子). My heart went cold.

“You can go out and play now,” Grandma said, smiling.

I nodded and slowly walked towards the door. I looked out of the small window in the door and saw some kids playing outside. My best friend, Liu Mei, saw me and waved (挥手) at me to go outside, but I couldn’t move. I knew everyone would laugh at my hair, but I couldn’t tell Grandma how I felt.

Finally, I went into Grandma’s room and said in a scared voice,   “Grandma, I don’t think the flowers in my hair look nice.”

Grandma looked sad, but didn’t say a word. She stood me back on the chair in front of the mirror. While Grandma was pulling out the flowers gently (轻柔地). I realised she loved me so deeply that she put my feelings before hers. And that is the kind of love I try to pass on today.

I picked up my phone and replied to my friend on WeChat. “I am glad to change it.”

Everyone’s past is important. It is the past that makes us who we are today. So, we should accept what has happened to us in the past. However, sometimes we need to let go of the past, so as to move on with our lives. Why should we let go of the past?

We can’t change the past. Sometimes, we like to say “I wish I did that earlier,” “I wish …” and so on. However, the fact is that we can’t go back and change the past, but what we can do is stop thinking about it, learn from it, and get ready for the future.

We should make space for something new. When we let go of our mistakes and fears, we can make room for something new to come. The world is full of amazing and exciting chances. New chances will knock on your door when you close the old one.

We need to grow. Sometimes it’s not easy to let go of the past because it makes us to leave our comfort zone. This is also why many people are afraid of making moves. However, making changes in your life can help you become stronger and find who you really are. So how can we let go of the past? Accept your past and focus on the good side. Learn to enjoy every day and be open to new things. All these will open new doors in your life.

Success is often measured by the ability to overcome adversity. But it is often the belief of others that gives us the courage to try.

J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series, began writing at the age of 6. In her biography, she remembers with great fondness when her good friend Sean, whom she met in secondary school, became the first person to encourage her and help build the confidence that one day she would be a very good writer.

“He was the first person with whom I really discussed my serious ambition to be a writer. He was also the only person who thought I was bound to be a success at it, which meant much more to me than I ever told him at the time.”

Though there were many setbacks, Rowling went on with her writing, particularly fantasy stories. But it wasn’t until 1990 that she first got the idea about Harry Potter. As she recalls, it was on a long train journey from London to Manchester that the idea of Harry Potter simply fell into her head. “To my immense frustration (沮丧), I didn’t have a functioning pen with me, and I was too shy to ask anybody if I could borrow one. I think, now, that this was probably a good thing, because I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled (戴眼镜的) boy who didn’t know he was a wizard became more and more real to me.”

That same year, her mother passed away after a ten-year battle with serious illness, which deeply affected her writing. She went on to marry and had a daughter, but separated from her husband shortly afterwards.

During this time, Rowling was diagnosed with depression. Unemployed, she completed her first novel in area cafes, where she could get her daughter to fall asleep. After being rejected by 12 publishing houses, the first Harry Potter novel was sold to a small British publishing house.

Now with seven books that have sold nearly 400 million copies in 64 languages, J. K. Rowling is the highest earning novelist in history. And it all began with her commitment to writing that was fostered by the confidence of a friend!