There is No Success Without Sacrifice.
Yes! Making sacrifices can be painful and hard, but you have to think of it this way: at the end of it all, you will have accomplished something for yourself, and it will all be worth it. This is probably the golden rule to success. I learned it a few years ago, but honestly... it took me a long time to apply it to my life because in fact, I felt the opposite.
I've always been that girl with lots and lots of dreams. I never wanted to be president, but at some point I wanted to be an FBI agent, and astronomer, and a lawyer. Not really sure what happened to those dreams. Actually, I'm lying! I do know. I learned you have to take lots of exams and spend years in school. I love learning new things, but I hate exams. I'm 250% sure my testing anxiety is not normal. In fact, I should be put in a test tube and studied. But aside from law school exams, I just wasn't passionate about pursuing those careers. If there is no passion, then there is no commitment. I've always been a creative little polka dot. Creativity is an outlet for my energy, my ideas, my creativity, and even my frustrations. Creativity is my way of expressing my values, ambitions, and views in a literal sense.
As time goes by and we become more responsible (lol, see how I try not to say the "as we get older") we learn that making sacrifices its just a part of life. There is nothing wrong with giving up routines. Also, I like to think of trading whatever that is at the moment for something better in the future, rather than giving up. In order to obtain anything worthwhile in life, we have to make sacrifices. We have to be willing to give up something NOW (and be ok with the decision) in order to obtain something that we perceive to be better LATER. It’s always been that way and it always will be.
When we're younger, we feel that we are able to accomplish great things while keeping the same lifestyle. We think that we can juggle things efficiently, but don't fully understand that there are some things that need to be let go sometimes. Having a very active social life in your early 20's is fabulous, but its not so fabulous when you have to wake up at 4:00 a.m. for work. It's all about priorities. It does not mean that we have to say goodbye to our friends and forget to have some fun. What is important here is that we are able to prioritize.
I've always known the golden rule. My dad used to tell me about priorities all the time. It wasn't until recently that I realized I just simply can't juggle the fabulous rockstar by night and the trying to be a successful young woman by day lifestyles. Some of you who know me are probably laughing right now and saying "I told her so" but you see, so did my mom, dad, grandma etc and I didn't listen. I had to learn the lesson on my own. The hard way. After all, it is human nature to test our limits, despite prior warning. There is something amazing about learning, so I have no regrets about learning some lessons from life the hard way. The end product (a consistently improved version of myself) makes it well worth the time, effort and tears. Remember, when it comes to success sacrifice is good. It will not benefit you in the short term; it will benefit you later.
