(Excerpt from the book – Pg. 47)
If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you! There are many people and things that influence our direction in life. However, we are ultimately responsible for the choices we make. Your current situation or circumstances do not have to predict your future. Do not let others decide your identity for you. You must decide who you are and who you want to be in life. If you do not succeed, then you have no one to blame but yourself. Sometimes we allow others to pressure us into acting a certain way in order to be accepted in the group. What does it mean to be successful? There are many definitions, but Webster defines success as, “outcome, result, the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence or high ranking.” You need to decide what success looks like for you. Do not let commercials, your peers, society, or anything else make that decision for you. Success should be more than material things.
The highway of life may get rough sometimes, but when you know where you are going it makes the ride a little less stressful. When you have a destination in mind, you anticipate the joy and excitement of arriving. You are in control of what the outcome of your trip will be. Life is a journey and you should enjoy the ride. Do not wait until you reach mid-life to decide your destiny. It is twice as hard to get there and it’s impossible to catch up. Live each day to the fullest, keeping in mind your ultimate goal and purpose. If you fall down do not stay down. As long as you can look up you can get up! Do not be afraid to go against the grain sometimes. Do something unexpected, something you wouldn’t normally do or something you have dreamed of doing. Take some risks! Don’t worry about what people will think or say. Others judge you on what they have seen you do. You need to operate on the basis of your vision for yourself and the things that allow you to grow and gives you a sense of really being alive, and a sense of satisfaction. The key to the game is positive thinking. If things don’t work out chock it up to experience and move on to life’s next adventure!