How to Cope when You Succeed Alone
Reflections of a Lone Achiever
Is a success a success if you don’t have someone with whom to share it? It absolutely is!
Yet I still seek my soul mate with whom to share life’s highs and lows. As I accomplish more and more in my life, it can feel lonely to achieve. The nonexistent support during my effort and lack of recognition once I’ve completed a challenge successfully haunts me.
After my recent breakup with my boyfriend, I had a presentation to give. I’d been excited about being asked and felt confident in myself to do an excellent job. And I did. But right afterward, I felt that nagging emptiness. Yes I had accomplished. Yes I’d impacted others. But it felt decidedly empty and less meaningful because I did not have someone close to me and by my side encouraging me on.
The feeling was there, but I did not dwell on it. This emptiness doesn’t linger, and since the first time I felt this emotion in 2017, after my book launch and signing, time has tempered the strength of this emotion . However, it still exists.
I recently received my French driver’s license, a feat that took a year to get, and which was fraught with stress and anxiety. My ex-boyfriend was there as I pushed through the paperwork and jumped through the ever-changing hoops. So of course when I got the letter, he crossed my mind. I smiled to myself, put the license in my wallet, and kept on going. No fanfare, not much excitement. Gratitude indeed, but only a muted sense of accomplishment.
If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?
When I compare my lonely successes to a tumbling arbor, I immediately know and feel I am not alone in my triumphs and the satisfaction they bring. As I struggled to exchange my Virginia driver’s license for a French one, there were angels in the background who helped me through the process. They were there too as I opened the letter containing my new license. The spiritual realm is always there, and it is at these times I am reminded of my connection to it and the incredible power I can gain from it.
Just as I know that I am not alone in life’s highlights, I know a sound bellows through the forest as a tree falls whether or not there is a sentient being to perceive it audibly.
Its vibrations reach the spirit realm enhancing the wonder and support it brings to the mortal one.
Remember this the next time you feel alone. You are not alone!
