Mike is a passionate content creator based in Munich. On his Instagram account, he shares his passion for Bavaria, travel, sports and traditional Bavarian clothing with his followers every day.

This is his story.

Projects, plans, objectives – for me it's always important to actually be doing something. That's the only way I can truly continue to develop, grow and achieve something. Unfortunately, things don't always go without a hitch, or should I say an opponent: resistance. Whether it comes from outside, from critics or setbacks – or even from myself: from my own doubt, frustration, or from having only limited success. Who isn't familiar with that? I've been through moments like those often enough myself. One possible outcome would be to give up. In my case, I came across a certain motto some years ago, one which to this day is still of major importance to me, and which has motivated and left a strong impression on me: "Failure is not an option!" So giving up or throwing in the towel, for me, those are never serious options. If I'm perfectly honest, in my view giving up is just far too easy. Sure, all the effort would come to a sudden stop, critics would silently gloat and the suffering would be at an end... – at least initially. Because then you can be sure that my imagination would start running wild. I've decided that at times like that, I don't want to have to deal with questions like "What if...? What if I hadn't given up? " One thing I'm sure of is that challenges, and especially difficult situations, make me grow a lot. In my experience, even more so than anything that happens in our comfort zone, where noticeably fewer demands are placed on us. I'm absolutely convinced of this, because I've been through this exact experience on several occasions now, and over the years I've developed a professional attitude to it. Failure and defeat are part of life, just like success. If you don't give up immediately after small disappointments, success will always come your way - of that I am sure. Having accepted that, and with the knowledge that setbacks - even in the future - will never fully throw me off course or cause me to lose sight of my plans and big objectives, I've developed a way of dealing with this never-ending challenge with confidence. So far, I've found this to be the best way to protect myself. There's no point hiding. And as you all know, giving up is not on my agenda. I think the words of Michael Jordan sum it up perfectly: "Don’t be afraid to fail, be afraid not to try".