This is the year that I finally arrived at a level of success that made every last one of my previous failures and trials worth it. And I got here because I achieved and dreamed at the exact same time. If I’d focused simply on reaching important milestones in my Army career and ignored my dream to write, I would not know this success. Or if I’d focused solely on publishing my first book and neglected to give my best to my career, I would not know this degree of success.
It is because I did both, intentionally, that I feel the kind of happiness that I know my mother always prayed for me to have.
And I don’t have a single regret about the time I stole away from one in order to make a little more progress in the other. I am convinced that needed to have success in both areas in order to truly fulfill my purpose in life. And I don’t measure that success in terms of money or sales, but in terms of satisfaction and pride. I look at myself differently in the mirror because I’ve seen the woman staring back at me do things that brought joy to her, for no other reason than because those things brought joy to her. I am beyond proud of her.
But still, in this season of life, I am thankful that I found myself at the center of a circle filled with a quality of care, kindness, support and motivation that I’ve never known before in my life. It’s true, the self-empowerment side of me would like to take all the credit for the satisfaction I experienced this year. But I’m smart enough to know that if God had placed a different circle around me, that this degree of success probably would have not come to pass.
So, it should go without saying that 2021 owes me absolutely nothing. But I am most grateful that I learned these two things. First, achieving success and fulfilling your purpose are not always the same things. You must be willing to live out your dreams in order to fill in any gaps that exists between the two. And second, you’ll know when God has placed the right people around you, when those people refuse to let you settle for living in anything but your full and complete purpose.
The end of 2021 is just a few short weeks away. And life is too short for regrets. So, in 2022, let’s each make a promise that we will Achieve and Dream…at the same time.