I have always been an overly ambitious person.

Throughout my lifetime, I can always remember being on a mission to be successful.

Always wanting more, attempting to achieve more.

The Universe had other plans.

Through adversity, the Universe has shifted my ambitions, rather abruptly, from wanting to be successful to seeking happiness.

Success is outside approval.

Happiness is inside approval.

Nobody knows your life, your circumstances, or your pain; only you do.

Seeking happiness over success is not normal, easy, or simple.

To quote Olivia Pope, “I don’t want normal and easy and simple. I’m not built for it. I want painful, difficult, devastating, life-changing, and extraordinary.”

And that is what I have.

A painful, difficult, devastating, life-changing, and extraordinary life.

And somehow, I am happy.

As Michelangelo famously said, “Every block of clay has a sculpture in it.”

It takes time, effort, and focus, but you have one question to answer for yourself,

Do you want to have a lump of clay, or do you see something else?

The artist sees the sculpture and not the clay.

When you sculpt the life and circumstances that you have and create art, to me, that is precisely when success and happiness become one and the same.