What can I learn from you?

Undying, unwavering self-love and self-dependency and how to develop and sustain it.

I get several texts a day on Instagram or Quora comments, asking me how to get over depression or failures or be confident, etc.

I reword and repackage my thoughts but the crux of my message remains the same.

Fix a goal.

Maybe it is money you pursue.

Or you pursue education.

Maybe you pursue fame.

Whatever it is, take that dream, paint a picture out of it and put it in a figurative frame.

Look at that frame each day.

Burn that dream so deep into your soul that it merges with your reality.

Pursue it and ignore/remove anything that comes in the way, including your own self-doubt.

Now you know what you want.

Give your all to it.

If you fail, get up and pursue it again.

This dream is also your reality. There is no escaping it.

Don’t make excuses.

Don’t hear others criticizing you, even if it is family.

There is no time for self-doubt or to seek other’s approval.

No one is coming to help you. This is all your moment to shine.

You are Arjuna and your mind, soul and attention are fixated on that fish’s eye.

Once you achieve success, observe the people around you.

Once your goal is achieved, you will find people reacting in the following 4 ways:

1. The ones that surround you to admire you.
2. The ones that are unaffected by your success but love you the same.
3. The ones that ignore you so as to put you in your place.
4. The ones that follow your every move to criticize you.

Take the fourth category and uproot it from your life.

Encourage the first category as some of them might be diamonds in the rough and just need some mentoring to shine.

Never misbehave with the second category. Respect and value them.

Associate yourself with the fifth category, the one that is aspirational for you and has the right combination of success and talent to criticize you and make you better.

This is how you will sustain your success.

When you are successful, the rules of society don’t apply to you.

You make the rules.

You carve the path for people to follow.

But you can’t make it if you can’t fight the demons within and the demons outside.   

-Srishti Stempert, PhD student Oncology