A poem that moulded your life?

Have you ever read something that subconsciously strove to mould your outlook on life?

I didn’t know that I had something like this hiding in the dept’s of my brain, but surprise, surprise, I did. I was thinking back the other day and it hit me that much of how I think about life and the decisions I make have a guideline of sorts. One of the guidelines I traced back to was this amazing poem by Rudyard Kipling.

By far this is not the only influence in my life but it has great, great wisdom for those who wish to read it and learn from its words. I give you,IF by Rudyard Kipling.

If – Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;