Each day success comes knocking at my door and I yell, “Come back in a few years — I am having a different experience right now!”
Some achieve great accomplishments at a young age and are listed on the Forbes’ “20 Under 12” list, but not me. My success is taking a long time and, you know what, I have patience.
If I were to be prosperous early and easily, what would I write in my memoir? I crave the adversity that failure breeds. I want to be a strong person who can overcome challenges. Thankfully, I have a lot of them.
I am learning invaluable skills at this stage of my life. How to make a salad out of ramen. How to tape a dryer sheet to my air conditioner so I can’t smell the mold. Late nights sweating about how to pay my rent? It’s cheaper than a gym membership!
This morning my commuter train was packed so tightly that I had another woman’s hair in my mouth, an experience one might say I would not have been privy to if I were currently thriving.
If I didn’t have loan payments past due, I would never get phone calls. Talking on the phone is a beautiful form of communication. One day, my assistants will handle everything for me and I will look back fondly on this time and attempt to grin (plastic surgery has limited my ability to smile).
Many impressive people fail. It is character building. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was determined to be a professional football player. He has said that failing to make the NFL was the greatest thing that ever happened to him. Imagine what greatness is in store for me, since I too am absolutely failing to play in the NFL.
If you google “successful people who failed at first” you will get a long list of remarkable folk. I know this because I google it once every few weeks to keep my head in the game.
When family members ask me how things are going in my life, I quickly divert the conversation to a recent murder in our hometown. That way they shift their focus to being happy to have a daughter who is simply still alive. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to hone this skill.
One day, I will have 4.3 million dollars. I hope no more than that, anything above 4.3 million dollars becomes overwhelming to manage. Too much success can be a burden, one I know I will at some point be overcome by — with 4.3 million dollars.
I am positive that wild and incredible success is in my future, but I don’t want it right now. So if you have a job offer for me, hold off. If you are the great love of my life, please circle back later. Prosperity, we are going to have to push our meeting to a future date for right now I am totally swamped with building my character.