Left, Right, Jab, Uppercut

I take diligent notes. Whether I'm in meetings or listening to training CDs, I'm usually scribbling away, jotting down key points or key words that I want to remember and use. I never want to forget anything that I feel will be helpful during my journey towards financial freedom.

I've had a lot of backlash during the past couple of months.
I've handled that.

I've had a lot of mixed opinions during the past couple of months.
I've handled that as well.

I've had a surprisingly little amount of support
during the past couple of months.

I've accepted that, but still I'm determined,
even more so to prove people wrong.

I've always believed success is the greatest form of revenge.

There's nothing like success to put the biggest smile on your face
and nothing like success to help you outshine those who doubted you.

Rereading my notes, I came upon this:

"Passion is different from love.

Passion is a combination of love and anger."

A couple of days ago, I received constructive criticism.

I call it constructive, although every word of it I took as pure criticism, totally reeking of complete doubt in me. And although, I had always thought this person would support me through thick and thin, I was caught offguard by the change of heart this person revealed to have. And it hurt. It really really hurt. But mostly, it angered me. Because I never thought this person would be added to the list of people I would have to prove wrong.

It made absolutely no sense to me what this person was saying. With everything happening in the economy, with everyone's jobs at stake, with people getting the axe left and right, I was surprised to hear this person advise me that I should remain in the employee position I'm in, like a sitting duck in a pond, waitin for someone to take a shot at me. Rather than proceed to a "safer" area, I felt like I was being told it was better for me to remain a possible target. Talk about trying to promote "security". It felt like I let my guard down, someone called my name to catch my attention and out of nowhere, I got knocked in the face.

I understand the so-called risk I'm going through with, but to hear it from the person whose sole purpose was to guide me in such a doubting tone, was like being shot by them themselves. And now, I'm just angry.

I've always had a passion. I've always had this passion to make a difference in this world. To help those that are crying out for help. To help change people's lives with what our company does. I've seen others do it and I wanted to be a part of that. I feel like I've said this a million times. And I'll keep repeating it until maybe one day, people will believe it.

And now, more than ever, I understand the meaning of "passion". Because now I'm also angry. Very angry. I love what we do and that love is now combined with the anger I feel to, once again, prove that I can do this. I could help people. I could survive. If I'm not going to get the full support from this person because they're too busy trying to convince me to stay "safe", stay sitting around like a freakin duck, then yeah, I'm gonna stay angry. I'll do this with or without your support.

I have enough passion to do this with or without you.