What is the price of success?

Many of us believe that to achieve success, the price we have to pay is the sacrifice of time, energy, relationships, money, and such to get to the accomplishment of your goal or purpose. I don’t think it is.

As people congratulate me for writing my first book I couldn’t help but feel as though they see me as a success. I have fought a long hard battle to get to where I am today, to be the person I have always wanted to be. I am very appreciative of the support and praise that I have been given throughout my very transparent journey. But even with the release of my first book and the recognition that I have received, I still don’t feel like I am a success. And I am sure that confuses some people. Writing a book, while it is a significant goal to achieve, is not a success to me. I am not willing to pay the price for being “successful” just yet.

There is something deep within me that looks at success as being a very flawed ideal. We all seem to chase success so that we can “live the dream” or be famous, wealthy and be carefree. We are willing to burn bridges with friends, take risks and put it all on the line believing that with unrelenting sacrifice and risk, comes high reward and success. Well, you if you think that, you can have all the success that you desire. I believe that success only happens after you are dead.

The most significant mistake of believing in your own success is the apathy of change. Once we have declared ourselves as successful, we have already begun the spiraling descent of failure. While mired in the belief of our own success, we often then take a rest and lean on it to move us forward, but success isn’t like that. The mirage of success is frail and weak, and it will never carry you, it will only push you down. We see examples of the frailty of success everywhere in life. Athletes crumble under the enormity of expectation after a breakout year, musicians disappear after their one-hit-wonder drops off the charts, companies profits nose-dive after the initial demand of their product fade. In each case, there is a soul in there that believes that they had found the pinnacle of their mountain when in reality, there were many more mountains to climb.

As long as I am alive, I will never look at my life as a success, but That doesn’t mean I look at my life as a failure. My life is a balancing act between the achievement of goals and exploring the paths necessary to find more goals to achieve. I am at my happiest when I see a perfect balance between the two and not after my achievements. I have no time for success.

When the day comes where I take my last breath, it will be up to you to determine if I lived a successful life and I will never know if I was successful or not, but that is fine! If you believe I was a success, then that means I have made a positive difference in your life, and that to me, that is all I ever wanted. Success is for the dead, and your life is the price. Never let success be your purpose while living because when you do, you will be well on your path of dying alive.