It’s time to pay the toll and move forward

It’s time to pay the toll and move forward. Make the sacrifice. Claim the blessing of the gods.

Every meaningful step in life requires a cost. A toll. An offering. A trade.

• You must pay the toll to cross into new lands.
• You must offer the first harvest to earn the favor of heaven.
• You must burn the old ship to commit to the shore.
• You must leave the cave to gain the crown.
• You must bleed in training to win in battle.

But I know some of you have already sacrificed. You’ve suffered. You’ve paid. And still… you didn’t get what you were promised. You gave up something valuable and received nothing but silence in return. That feels unjust. It is unjust.

Here’s the truth: Sometimes you made the wrong offering. At the wrong time. To the wrong altar. Or for the wrong prize.

In ancient times, sacrifices weren’t random. They followed precise ritual, systems, timings, and demands. You didn’t just throw a goat on the fire and hope. You calibrated your sacrifice to the gods, the season, the need, and the return.

It’s the same today.

If you pay your taxes in the wrong name, the government doesn’t care, they still want their pound of flesh. If you sacrifice for someone who doesn’t value it, that pain was wasted. If you invest everything into a lie, your reward is loss.

That’s why you must learn:

• What to offer
• When to offer
• To whom to offer it
• And what to expect in return

And even with all that, Sometimes we get it wrong. Even the wise fail. Even the strong misplace their trust.

That’s why we build systems. To fail fast. Fail early. Fail cheap. To pull back when the return disappears. To double down when the path is clear.

This is a game. A high-stakes one. And as long as you keep playing, you can still win. But if you play smart, if you learn the laws of offering and reward,

You won’t just survive. You’ll conquer.

The image is Martim Moniz at the gates of São Jorge Castle during the Siege of Lisbon, 1147. The scene shows Martim Moniz wedging his body in the narrow doorway of a massive medieval wooden gate to prevent the Moors from closing it. That day he sacrificed his life so that Lisbon could be recaptured and the banners of Islam driven from Portugal.