Life + ____ = Success

"Attitude simultaneously changes perspective, and perspective births new attitude." 

The title of this post is "Life + _____ = Success," not because I have the answer to being successful, because depending how you fill in the blank says a lot about your perspective. Here is mine:

Lets be honest, keeping a positive attitude is a lot easier said than done. Sure, when life is going your way and you have nothing to complain about, maintaining a positive attitude is a walk in the park. 

But what happens when life does not go your way, when it goes down a rocky trail rather than the smooth road. When you are unsure, doubtful and insecure life is not as pleasing nor encouraging. I am sure you can think of a time when you were struck with an unfortunate circumstance or circumstances. Maybe you were laid off, or in a car wreck, or loved one died, rejected, financially unstable, arrived late, or missed out on a great opportunity......what ever the cause, whether it was a small event or a major one something, just one thing changed your attitude from better to worst. 

Of course you hear it all the time, you need to keep a positive attitude even when times are hard.....but how much do you actually believe that, let alone respond immediately with a positive outlook? Lets face the fact that it is really hard to be grateful when everything seems to be crumbling. In many ways our attitude does not affect the situation, the situation affects our attitude...

Many of you are aware that I have moved to LA to pursue a dream. I can imagine that some of you think this journey has been a easy and exciting for me and as much as I would like to agree with you, I can't. This journey has stretched me in ways I have not experienced before. Although I have had great highs, I have undoubtedly experienced major lows and challenging circumstances. So when I talk about attitude, believe me, I am not speaking to you anymore than I am speaking to myself. 

In the stillness of my room under the warming sun, I came to recall two things that changed my attitude/perspective on life: 1. Our understanding of success has been perverted and measured according to our materialistic gain. And 2. If we do not risk losing it, its probably not worth chasing.

Success: we tend to place those who have a lot of money under the definition of success. While they have mastered one area in life we have neglected to consider the other areas of their lives. Yes, financially they are stable and they have freedom to do so what ever they please, but where do they stand emotionally, spiritually, intellectually.....? Don't get me wrong, I don't think having money is bad, but when you place your value in money you have lost the value in yourself. And if becoming a billionaire means being successful what happens to everyone else, were they never successful? My point is success cannot and should not be defined according to the numbers in your bank account. 

Take a moment from the shallow perspective on success and dive with me into a deeper understanding of success. You can agree with me or disagree with me, but I would say this; success is directly linked to purpose. Once you find your purpose in life, the reason you are here....when you live out what you were made to be, you have found success. Being successful means living life according to your purpose. I can name countless of individuals, famous and unknown who who have been successful, not according to the money they made, but according to the purpose they lived out. 

Secondly, a dream not worth risking for is not worth chasing. I gave a lot to move to LA, from friendships, family, financial stability....etc only to risk my future in acting. There is no real promise that I will "make it" as an actor, as a matter of fact according to statistics I wont make it. The industry tells me there is a 95 percent rejection rate, that's awfully high. And I could take that and think I would probably never be successful in life. Or I can understand that being successful in life means living according to my purpose. The choice of going home, working any job and playing it safe has always been an option, I can do that whenever I want, but by doing so I would never live out my purpose. If thats the case no matter how much money I make I will never be truly successful. 

So I risked it all, moved here with one thing in mind; my purpose in life. I am a part of something beyond myself, a bigger picture. Yes I can risk losing it all, but that's the exact reason why its worth chasing after it. Plus, it would be silly of me to think the keys to life will be handed over to me. It would be irresponsible of me to think that my purpose in life has no heart breaking moments in the future. Now, I am not encouraging everyone to move out of their house and come to LA, no I am encouraging you to seek out your purpose and live whole heartedly according to it, even if it means coming across devastating lows. 

So in those difficult times.....well, in these difficult times; my attitude simultaneously changes my perspective, and my perspective births new attitude.