Sometimes you put in the work, give it your all, and the universe still doesn’t give you what you so badly want, instead it hands you a participation trophy made of pure disappointment. 

These pictures capture those moments where the effort you put in and the outcome you received just didn’t seem to align. Someone clearly tried, but fate had other plans. You can practically feel the energy that went into each of these projects.

And yet, the end result? A simple vague “close enough.” It’s the universal feeling of trying to make something great, only to end up questioning your life choices halfway through. You can only keep moving on while knowing you at least tried.