Grammar, Usage / Help me "flip" a sentence [4]

Right now I have the following sentence in my conclusion paragraph

The scar from the accident is a personal reminder that failure is a precursor to success.
However, in the context of my paper, starting the sentence with "the scar" is sort of abrupt (I discuss the accident in the introduction). I think the flow of the paper would make more sense if I had something like

Failure is a precursor to success, as evidenced by the scar from the accident.
However I don't like this wording as much, as it feels much less "personal"

Any suggestions?