Letting Go

It is not about winning in life but about letting go. I used to think I could will my way to success as long as I was backed up by talent and passion. At 39 I know it is all about the above, plus dumb luck, timing and perseverance. Willpower and talent only get you so far, and it is letting go of some of that will and fire to find out that there are powers that be, which, in hindsight, most often work in one's favor. If a door closes on you, open a window, sit back for a bit, reflect and try again-- sometimes it is trying the same thing, at other times it is turning a page or turning into a new direction. Rejections, disappointments, failures-- they used to drive me to tears. Now, however, I know that they are more worthwhile than winning. No one has ever learned anything from winning except for becoming more arrogant and smug. It's good to be humbled in life because it adds perspective to who we are as people and where we want to go next. And that is saying a lot, coming, as this is, from a cynic and a pessimist. I have lived in America for more than ten years now. The one great virtue of this country and its people is its willingness to dream and go for the gold, no matter what. Plus, the belief that there are second acts in life if only one is willing to get up out of bed and try again.