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.