subject: How to Achieve Success in Life - Just Do It! [print this page] How to Achieve Success in Life - Just Do It!
I'm living proof that anyone can achieve success in life. Twenty-eight years ago in 1982, if you told me that in 2010 I'd be living in a dream house that I designed and my husband and I built; I would not have believed you. I would not have believed that I would achieve the success in life for which I deeply yearned.
Back then, I was living in a 30-foot Columbia travel trailer atop a Sierra Nevada mountain ridge just down the road a piece from Yosemite National Park without running water or electricity, with two small children and a husband to support - yes - I supported everyone.
We'd just moved to a 13-acre piece of raw Sierra Nevada mountain land bereft of any amenities. I mean really raw. No human lived there before. A few deer, a couple of coyotes and a red fox greeted us on arrival. And oh, yeah, the bear - but that's another story.
When we first left the central coast of California and I left my high-falootin' marketing job, I was convinced we could do anything - building a dream house would take nothing. All I had to do was dream, and voila! That's back when I was 29, young, not inexperienced, but still quite naive.
You think like that until you are faced with cooking the first of several meals over a campfire. And then you have to dig a hole and prop a toilet paper roll on a branch for those outdoor accommodations. Kerosene lanterns become a way of life - and television a thing of the past.
No Running Water -- No Electricity
We lived without electricity for two years and without running water for six. Most people would have given up - but I stayed there for 15 years in pursuit of my dreams - dreams that ended up in a devastating and shocking nightmare.
When I finally left that mountaintop I went back home - to San Diego - where I was born and raised. I moved back in with my mother at the age of 42. Most people would have called me a failure. For a while, I felt just like one.
That is until I decided to pull myself up by my bootstraps and remember the principles I'd used most of my life, but somehow had magically "forgotten." When I decided to get serious in February of 1996, I combined these principles with my beliefs and radically changed my life in less than 90 days.
The Key In My Hands
All along I held the key within my own two hands the whole time. I don't berate myself because things didn't happen sooner. Everything happens in its proper time - this I know. And without these steps of my journey, I would not be able to have compassion for those who have experienced the same or worse than I have.
I'm here to tell you that whatever you decide to do in life - just do it. Don't let anyone dissuade you from the successes you've allotted for yourself. Don't let anyone tell you that your dreams are stupid. Make a commitment to yourself and follow through on your dreams. If someone argues with you and tells you that you can't - that's more of a reason to say, "Yes, I can!"
Just remember than no one can live your life for you - only you can do that. My Hopi Indian relatives said that and it's true. Don't let anyone else try to live your life for you - make your own decisions. Be responsible for your life and your feelings and watch what happens once you make that commitment.
