There's only
one person on this planet who can help you.
You.
You are the
only person who can make the decision with what to do with your life.
You are the only person who can make the decision on where to go,
what to see, and how to live. If you want to get treatment for
yourself, that's your decision. If you want to travel, that's your
decision. If you want to work, that's your decision.
But the only
person who will help you get to where you want to go, whether that's
a physical or mental destination, is you. Of course, you can ask for
help along the way but no one is going to come up to you and offer it
all on a plate. You have to get out there and work for what you want,
be that better health, a better job, a better home, or a better life.
I had to
learn that and I learned it the hard way. I believe that the things I
wanted in life would fall in to my lap. I believed that I didn't have
to work to get somewhere and that just daydreaming about the life I
wanted would be enough.
Boy, was I
wrong.
Over the
past several years, I've had quite a few doses of reality be it tough love from family to trying to open
career doors that aren't yet ready to be opened. Each time has been a
painful learning experience and I've learned to stop and evaluate my
life. What do I want? How can I get there? Do I need new skills to
achieve it? How can I get out of the rut that I'm stuck in? How could
I change myself to become a better person?
Because of
these experiences, I decided to move away from writing fiction and
turn to non-fiction. I realised that I had a talent for getting
people to talk and to being able to listen to what they had to say. I
decided to combine that with my writing and began working on two
books that documented the lives of the people around me. As I started
working on the books, I realised that I was the happiest I'd been. No
longer did I feel stressed. Nor did I feel like I was pushing at
doors that were locked.
If there's
something that you want to do, only you can get there. You need to
sit back and evaluate your life. Do you notice patterns of conflict
in your life? If so, how can you solve them? What do you need to
change about yourself? Are you too critical? Does your anger flare
too quickly? Do you need to gain new skills? Do you need to move
house? Do you need to change your career path? Do you need to stop
hanging out with certain people?
Keep a
journal and see what pushes your buttons. You don't have to write in
it every day and, over time, you'll be able to begin working on
getting to the place that you want to be.
You can do
whatever you put your mind to but, in order to get there, you need to
give yourself a dose of tough love in order to get there.
Happiness
isn't a destination; it's a journey.
