JOSE DIAZ

Success is an adventure with many avenues to take. Achieving it might take as little as a mere thought, or as much as selling your soul. In any case, be prepared to shed some blood, sweat, and tears along the way.

Who we are defines what success means to us. Who we are in the eyes of others redefines who we are to ourselves to an extent. While others bombard us with their expectations of what we should be, we wrestle with our own expectations of what we expect of ourselves. The two are rarely in synch.

 Life always gets boiled down to a competition. The winner takes it all. The loser dresses wounds. Sometimes though, even the winner looks back to discover the prize may not have been worth the damage incurred. Both winning and losing can have rewards, or a lack thereof. The endeavor to succeed propagates a race that never reaches fruition without at the least, mental injuries.

Success lies up on a plateau where it was placed by someone who chose to define it for themselves first. After others noticed, and recognized it for what it represented, it was assimilated into their psyche as well. The bar was set. The goal was realized. As time wore on the bar was nudged higher and higher and that high ground became crowded. Plateaus materialized higher and higher until success became a multi-leveled pyramid. The pinnacle became a place where there could be only one. So, the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

We put the best up on pedestals. The best sometimes have to put themselves in ivory towers. Fans can sometimes lose themselves in the throes of enthusiasm. Many want their own piece of a winner, their own trophy so to speak. Those at the top almost always end up having to keep themselves distanced from the populace. The more successful they are, the more difficult it becomes for fans to get near.

Once those hallowed halls are reached the true task becomes not only to maintain the level of quality that precipitated the success, but to also maintain a firm grounding in the reality of what life was like and what you were like before shattering that glass ceiling and becoming famous. Even a dash of fame in sub-atomic amounts can sift down into the soul and change you in ways you may not see. Many have stood proudly above for a time only to have wisdom dawn on them. They find that who they are, is now too different from who they were. A bitter taste fades onto their thoughts and they are repulsed by themselves. They yearn to return to the old “them”. Their entourage and fans become confused by their actions. Of course, if they sold their soul to get to the top, then they could probably care less. Please read the fine print before you prick a vein. You might change your mind. Success is an adventure with many avenues to take.