It's All About the Mindset

The noise of society can drown your thoughts. Cars honking every five minutes, planes landing at random, people fighting on the streets, in their homes. In a world full of rage, narcissism, and a lack of respect, it can be hard for a writer to do just that -- be still and write.

Be still and reflect.

Becoming a published author isn't as glamorous as it may seem. You always hear that from the people in the limelight. The celebrities who tell the rest of the world they're really not missing out on that much.

Being self-published obviously puts me behind just a little, with a little more work cut out for me in certain areas. But it isn't like I'm rolling in the dough, able to do what I want when I want, and for a long time that inflicted an insane amount of self-doubt.

Did I choose the right path? Am I making a mistake by believing in myself? My book isn't flying off the shelves. I don't feel like anyone's reading it. I even question every bit of good feedback I get. What's wrong with me? Why do I suck? Why am I so awful? 

That is what I like to call the enemy talking. On the back of Immortality Awaits, and dropped a few times throughout the text, is the phrase, "Never forget who the enemy is" (which I spoke a little about here).

It's easy to listen to the little voice in our head that tells us we'll never amount to anything.

Dreams are hard things to chase, because they're not tangible unless you make them that way. Even chasing them, urging them to become a reality you face every day, can be a long, hard road not many can endure.

As for me, I spent enough time feeling sorry for myself, questioning my role in life, and really trying to figure out what I'm going to do -- and I made something happen.

I spent a year away from my home country.

I spent a year "getting away" to the country I'd dreamed of coming to for years, and I realized that goals are made for a reason, and can only be achieved if you put yourself into the mindset of success.

We get so wrapped up in our day-to-day lives, our jobs, our bills, our relationships, that we forget to immerse ourselves in solitude.

When was the last time everything was quiet for you?

When the only thoughts inside your head were your own?

When everything was so still, you felt at peace?

We think it's impossible to get that. We feel the pressures all around us, the burdens laid on us by a money-driven society. We don't do the things we like, because if we don't make money off of them we consider them a waste of time.

But which is the time more wasted? Spending five to six days a week at the same place, over and over, trying to make ends meet, or chasing a dream that's been in your mind for God knows how long?

If the saying, "You get out of it what you put into it" is true, how is chasing dreams a waste of time? It may not be an overnight spring of "everything's perfect and I couldn't be happier," but why is it considered a waste of time to try?

Why do we laugh at the people who have dreams and try to conquer them?

Why do we not uplift the people around us, and push everyone to be the best they can be?

Mentality is a hard thing to shift, and it's a daily process. But every journey is different. Every dream is different. Every strategy of chasing dreams is different. Every person is different. Your dreams exist for a reason. Never be afraid to chase them, and never consider the time you've spent on them wasted.

As a bonus, here's a picture of me skydiving over Queenstown. If you'd have met me eight months ago and told me I was going to be gathering up enough courage to actually go skydiving for the first time over New Zealand in a location where they filmed Lord of the Rings, I would have told you you were crazy. But, alas...