"I was chasing success from an early age because I didn't feel like I was enough. What I really wanted - like most of us - was to be acknowledged and respected by the people around me and the peers I looked up to and admired. That was really important to me.
But what I didn't realize was that I was seeking this approval to feel like I was enough externally. I was giving my power over to external success and what people thought of me, instead of really defining who I wanted to be and who I knew deep down I should be - but wasn't being.
Until I figured that out, life just became this routine where I'd get up every day, work, and do what I thought I was supposed to do. But none of it ever felt really fulfilling. I felt like 'this is what you have to do,' but I knew there was another way. I saw other people around me that were happy, and I'd question, 'Is that really what I want?' because I didn't want to give up my edge.
There were a lot of things I did admire and like about myself, but the most important part - within myself - was missing. I just didn't feel a natural feeling of significance and contentment within me. That created a lot of unrest and kept me chasing the wrong things.
It was only when I finally surrendered to it and realized, 'I can't do this anymore. How am I possibly going to live a life of fulfillment if all I'm doing is chasing the next thing?' Because life just felt empty.
After you accomplish enough, achieve enough, amass enough, you realize it's not enough - unless you're some fucking ego maniac, which I wasn't. And the clients I work with aren't either. They're just lost. They're trying to find meaning in their life. They're trying to make their life make sense for once so they can feel good enough about who they are and have that confidence, certainty, and belief in themselves to live the way they want - regardless of what other people think.
I was on the brink of losing everything that actually mattered - this person I fell in love with, who was the reason I wanted to be successful in the first place. That's when it clicked: I had been giving my power away to external validation instead of living from my core.
Success goes beyond achievement. Real fulfillment comes from that natural feeling of significance and contentment within you - not from what others think of you.".
