The Struggle is REAL.

Sometimes we all find ourselves saying, “oh wouldn’t it be nice if we just won the lottery and didn’t have to keep struggling or working anymore.“ How does the struggle make your success story? Imagine you got what you wanted every time, without hard work, struggle or challenges. Imagine you got everything you wanted without pain, setbacks and failures. How lovely would that be?!?

Struggle is needed in life, we need to experience pain, setbacks and failures. If we didn’t experience these things we would be weak when something difficult comes up in life. You would lose all great things you had acquired because you wouldn’t know how to handle obstacles, failures,and negative opinions from others. Success is a process not a result and sometimes can be a long process. Many people think having material wealth or titles is the real definition of success, which is very wrong. Success is the mental transformation for an individual from being mentally fragile to become mentally strong. I struggled so much when I arrived in New York City. Everyday was a struggle, I barely had money to pay rent, I had to take the train home late night and was scared most nights as it would be very late and far into Brooklyn. I worked three jobs at one point to make ends meet, I hated New York with a passion and cried most days. There was something inside me though, that just wouldn’t stop even though I was so unhappy. I kept going to all three jobs, I kept barely paying rent etc. During this time my brother passed away, so I was getting hit from all angles, but I didn’t stop. I would be on the computer every day looking for better jobs and maybe I could take online classes for something. I kept at it and never stopped. Most people are unwilling to embrace struggle because they lack self-discipline; they are unwilling to embrace struggle because they are not hungry enough for their dreams. Even though I hated it in New York City I knew I still wanted to stay. I knew I wanted it so bad, that I eventually embraced the struggle and the pain. Pain is your friend, maybe not in the moment, but for the evolution of your soul and the long term benefit of a stronger human being. If you don’t have failures and struggles; if you don’t have disappointments and challenges, then you can never have courage, strength and compassion. These qualities are made from your pain and struggle. All obstacles come your way because you are strong enough to handle them. I go through struggles even to this day, it wasn’t just when I moved to New York. There have been situations in my life where I need to be strong and I am able to because I have endure the pain and the set-backs before. I remember when I went to take the Series 7 exam. I have no financial background and need to pass an 8 hour exam dealing with finance. I signed up for classes, I studied day and night all week over and over. I would rewrite my notes, I would type them out, everything you think one could do. The day of the exam I walked in and sat down in front of this computer and literally every single bit of information I studied for the last 3 months didn’t even exist. So needless to say I failed terribly. I cried so bad as I felt like such a disappointment and let my boss down. I let myself feel bad for myself, I allowed myself to feel sorry for a short bit of time, but I knew I had been through much worse. I signed back up for the next exam date. Back at it again with the studying, took the classes again and same studying. The day of the exam I felt more of a “it is what it is” vibe mostly because of my yoga practice and I then passed it. This struggle was over almost a year so when I passed you could imagine the happiness!! During my struggles and still to this day, yoga is very helpful for me. Yoga takes me to a place where for an hour I can shut down and focus on me and my inner light.

We have to embrace the setbacks, failures, and the struggle. I promise you in the moment you are going to be so fed up with what is happening to you. You are going to constantly ask yourself why is this happening to me? You will find yourself trying to avoid the struggle and get mad at it for causing you pain. You will send yourself onto an emotional and mental roller coaster and can’t figure out how to get off, believe me I was there. You just have to acknowledge it and use it to your benefit. Make it your friend, work with it and you will see the positive outcome. Struggle will always come for you in some form unfortunately, but this is where your strength can make it better. You will see some struggles won’t even happen anymore because you set a boundary for yourself. That is success, not the brand new Mercedes and the vacation home in Italy. The real success is your strength in life and how you got it, that is your success and no one can take that from you. Your material items can be gone in a second, but no one can take your journey to success because you paid for every cent of it. Always remember that a winner has many scars you can’t see.

MUCH LOVE, XOXO