This is my success story. I am going to make it up as I go. I decided to stop thinking and start doing, and this is what I have to show for it. Exactly what “this” is, is still somewhat of a mystery to me but I’m not going to waste any time worrying about that.

I always believed that I would get some great idea one day that would land me a “career” doing something I love. It made sense to want to be my own boss. That would be much more rewarding than working for someone else. I could be independent, and make on my own schedule, and everything would work itself out. Right?

Not exactly. Ironically, independence, as it applies to careers, implies a very strong dependence on others. Unless you’re forging money, you are not making a truly independent living. If you work alone and for yourself, then your customers are your business partners. You depend on them. If you gamble for a living, you depend on someone else losing money. No matter how you look at it, you are dependent upon others. What’s more? In most cases, the more people you depend on, the better your chance of success.

I have been in denial of my dependencies for most of my life. Since I graduated college six years ago, I have yet to do anything that I am proud of. I was so sure that success would smack me in the face, I gave up all efforts to gain work experience of any kind. I was too proud to even consider career placement. I preoccupied myself with all sorts of “great” business ideas while staying afloat through dead-end jobs in the service industry. The growing frustration of my under achievement was suppressed all along by the comfort of old habit as I waited for the one moment that would change it all.

And then it came. Only it wasn’t a moment, and it felt a hell of a lot more like backtracking than progress. It was a chain reaction built up by years of accrued disinterest, tipped off by heartache, that led me to flee the comforts of home to examine my life from a different angle. Total elapsed time: 13+ months and counting. Accounts of this are a closely guarded secret.

What have I learned from it all? It’s never too late to turn things around to start living the life you want. All it takes is one decision and unconditional commitment. Life is short, and it only gets shorter as you grow up. So here I am nurturing my interests into passion, because passion makes way for purpose. And like anything worth while, it takes time and attention to develop.

This is my success story. Consider it begun.