#Success

Chapter 1: The Path with a Heart

1.1.1. The Quiet Voice of Discontent

You've followed all of the rules and you've done everything that everyone has told you to do. You've listened to those whose opinions you value. Maybe you did well in high school, maybe you didn't but you made it to University and decided upon a major. You're nearing the end of your schooling and you feel that you should be excited, but for some reason you're not. You feel that you should be satisfied with where you are, but you're not. You feel that you should be happy with your life and where it's headed, but you're not.

Inside there is this nagging, clawing feeling that something is missing. No matter how hard you try to quiet this feeling through partying, hanging with friends, t.v., drugs and alcohol, it persists. It's uncomfortable. It feels like an overwhelming anxiety could bubble up to the surface at any time and completely consume you in its wrath.

You are not alone. I went through this same thing myself and there are countless others going through it as well. This inescapable feeling is the voice of your inner being. It is the real you, the you which you have never known before. Some call it a soul, some call it God, but it does not matter what you call it, what's important is that it's beckoning you towards becoming the magnificent, powerful being you were meant to be.

Millions of people go through their entire lives moving from distraction to distraction in order to avoid facing their inner being and deepest fears. They drown it out as best they can by filling their life with meaningless, mundane activities and their well-being suffers for it. It's apparent that the majority of people are not living as the human beings they are capable of being, they live lives of "quiet desperation" as Thoreau said, aimlessly following the pack and doing what they're told.

This isn't you. You know that you want more out of life but you're afraid to admit it. You're afraid to admit that the accepted life path isn't for you. I want you to know that it's okay to admit this and that this is the first step towards the most magnificent life experience you could ever have on this planet.

It's time for you to look your fears in the eye and conquer them, one by one. It's okay to be afraid and admit it, but it's not okay to be afraid and hide from your fears. We're all afraid of some things and what makes someone a success in my book is someone who is willing to face those fears head on and work through them little by little. If we simply sit back and maintain the status quo, if we ignore that small voice within us, we allow our fears to keep us trapped inside the small cage that we have always known.

It's as if for our whole lives we've been living inside a small closet without ever knowing the outside world. Of course we're going to be scared whenever we even begin to think about opening up that closet door and stepping outside, but as you and I both know, there isn't anything that scary about the outside world. Our fears are illogical and if we so much as submit to them once, we reinforce their power and continue to remain enslaved by them. We must follow the small voice within us that knows our true path in life regardless of what emotions we may feel; our happiness depends upon it.

So what are you afraid of? What are the chains that bind you that you're rarely aware of? I'll tell you mine:

● I'm afraid of being so different that nobody will like me

● I'm afraid of succeeding and people becoming jealous of me

● I'm afraid of giving it my all and falling flat on my face

● I'm afraid of being rejected by those around me

● I'm afraid of being alone

Whenever you look underneath all of these you can see that they all come down to one basic fear, and that is the fear of not being connected with the people and world around me. We are social beings at our core and the fear of being alone is one of the greatest fears that we will ever have to face. I want you to know that these fears and any other fears you may have are completely valid, but I also want you to know that they may be exactly what is holding you back from living a life you love.

1.1.2. Conformity

You have most likely spent the majority of your life following the crowd and trying your best to fit in. We were all raised to behave like sheep since the day we were born; trained to blindly follow the sheep in front of and around us without questioning where we're going.

There are people that have broken away from the herd and have taken control of their destinies but when we see them they often frighten us. They make us feel uneasy because they remind us of who we could be if summoned the courage to break away from the pack. These rare individuals are the people that have embraced their own uniqueness and are absolutely okay with being who they are regardless of what anyone else may think about them. They are the movers and shakers in the history of humanity; they are the Einstein's, the Edison's, and the Gates'; they are the people that stop and question the commonly accepted and then take off in their own direction of what they feel is best.