True Success

In order to get what you’ve never had, you’ve got to do what you’ve never done.

The key to real success is not about jumping on the latest greatest fad, it’s not about making  fast cash!  True success is knowing yourself so well that you realize when a job is a job, and when it becomes an enjoyable, rewarding, and profitable career because it suits your God-given talents.

My sisters are both nurses.  They love it, love being in the medical field.  It suits their nurturing natures, and gives them a sense of fulfillment.  It would be torture for me because I loathe needles, get sick at the sight of blood, and have no desire to give elderly men sponge baths.

I knew when I went to college I was not nurse material. (Playing dress up doesn’t count!)  I studied rocks – they don’t bleed.  I studied computers because computer geeks make money and money buys stuff; stuff that I wanted!  I ignored my desires to write because it wasn’t sensible and I didn’t see the profit in it.  My folks weren’t rich by any means, and what can I say?  I was a “material girl”!

Fast forward several years, the house, the kids, responsibility, yada yada . . . life gets you down.  A unfullfilling job is a fast track to killing your soul.  Draining the life force slowly, sucking the passion out of anything you do, and poisoning the hopes that are as of yet unfulfilled.  I couldn’t handle it any longer, something had to change.  My family deserved better from me!

I didn’t like where I was, what I had or rather had not achieved. Would taking the risk to pursue my passion for writing be any worse than  the dull existence I had?  Talk about death by a thousand cuts!  Something had to give!  Sad to say it took me so long to admit my own dreams had validity, and pursue them.

Some of you may read my ramblings here and think – yeah don’t quit your day job. That’s ok, I know I’m not for everyone.   Some of you however, have been encouraging, pushing me on when I wanted to quit.   I used the term above ‘God-given talent’.  It took me a long time to realize that my particular brand of creativity is unique.  Not every one is creative, and few have such a vivid imagination that I took for granted for so many years.  Did you know that there are some individuals that are fascinated by reading a tale of fiction, but could  never conceive of writing one themselves?

I have been selling myself short for my creative bent for way too many years.   The answer to success is NOT taking the safe path or avoiding chances.  The answer is staying true to my unique self, not trying to duplicate what someone else has done, not trying to mimic someone I admire, but staying true to my own expressions, my own creativity, and taking risks.

My writing is an extension of myself whether it’s fiction, humor,  or a personal experience piece.  Each comes from within me; within the caverns of my imagination, even the dark recesses.  Trying to be anything other than who I am leads to heartache and disappointment.  I am a one of a kind original.  Masterpiece?  Not yet!  Rather a work in progress.

So what’s in it for you?   How is this relevant to my readers?  Quite simple actually.  Although I’m sharing from my heart here, and from my own experiences, it’s my hope that you  wouldn’t waste several years of your lives unfulfilled.  Pursuing the sensible path led me down the road to Dullsville that later turned into Torment City.  We have to be responsible, yet pursue our dreams.  Dreams are the magic spark to life.

Where does your happiness lie?

What are your passions?  Your secret desires?  If money were not an obstacle, what would you do?

True Success is as individual as we are!

Write on my friends, write on!