The Sweet smell of Success!

I think that there are important milestones in everyone's self development where all of a sudden, the clouds clear and the answers you've been looking for are all of a sudden, rudely apparent.


Changing my career completely two months ago, forced me out of my comfort zone and was a step I took purely for my self development. Little would I have foretold that my self development would actually come from less focus on myself and learning from those around me.


Since going to University and seeing myself as someone who could achieve, I've always been drawn to others who are achieving. Success is an addictive thing and something that when we perceive we have it, we (usually) want to let everyone know about it. Just look at facebook profiles of those you went to school with or work with now, from the outset, everyone's garden seems to be rosy, an advert of their own lifestyle. It's great that these lovely things are happening to people but in all honesty, it's probably not the full picture.


Nobody is going to post on their facebook status: God I'm feeling so awful today can't stop eating hobnobs in my pyjamas and crying at repeats of Secret Millionaire
(If you do- thank you for being 1 in a million!)


Now here's the thing, the second you have an "Achievement Addiction" you have a niggling fear that success will leave you and for some reason your subconscious has this way of telling you, 'This decision you've made isn't right- how can you save face on this? You're losing your success here!' and all of a sudden that sweet smell of success that you once revelled in and perhaps encouraged others to take a good sniff of all of a sudden becomes quite sour.


The panic sets in and rather than being able to step back and relax about the whole situation, all of a sudden you're pining for the green grass in everyone else's garden while absent mindedly dowsing your own with weed killer. 
My yoga instructor (not a personal instructor obviously- I'm not Madonna!) always says in the meditation bit of the class:

"The more you let go in life, the more the Universe will support you"

Well guess what, it's not all hippy crap and whale music- there's something to it. If you think you're losing your success, you quite naturally overlook the success you already have.
Like wearing your favourite perfume (probably a better analogy for females here, sorry lads!) for ages, you know when you spray it on that others can smell it on you but because you're so used to it, you can't smell it on yourself.


That is exactly the same with success- it doesn't leave you, you're ability to achieve can not ever be compromised- unless of course you compromise yourself and allow yourself to focus on what isn't achievable. 
Wherever you are in life, you have to accept that you chose to be there. You sent the thought out into the ether and whether it was passive or active, you took those steps towards where you are now.

Similarly, the destination you aspire to in the future is just as flexible as your life is now and just as you have given it thought- you are already on your way to that destination. But when you get there, don't forget the journey you took and what you had to do to arrive because you might just forget that once again, you have achieved.