I love participation trophies. Don’t scoff. Knowing that people care, knowing that they see you – even if you’re not a star performer – well, that means a lot.   Learning something new is hard. When you first start to master any skill, you fumble and make mistakes. It’s an awkward process, and it takes encouragement to keep going. I’ve noticed that when we learn, we gravitate towards the skills that are easiest for us. Reading came easily to me, so I read a lot. All that practice made it even easier, and now I’m an avid reader for life. When I practiced Taekwondo, I noticed that some kids seemed…