Realising it’s isolating being successful in 2019
Hint: your social and dating life sucks and people think “YOU’VE CHANGED MAN”
The turn of the decade always gives us the opportunity to reflect on the year, the decade and even our lives. The epiphany that struck me just recently, is that’s isolating being successful.
Now I’m not saying I’m the next Gary Vee, nor am I gunning for Mia Freedman’s spot on her Mamamia throne, but that as a professional in your industry, you realise how much time you have to put in just to get ahead.
I’ve realised it. To be precise — be prepared for an isolating period of your life.
In case you’re thinking, oh she’s just having a poor-me day…no actually – I’ve been really enjoying my me time. This isolation just gives me more of an opportunity to keep working on being successful.
Ultimately, success to me, means working on the things that will make me better.
There are lots of way we could be better in 2019! Professionally, I’m focusing a lot more on how I can improve as a radio announcer, as a writer, a content creator and a web designer; but also as a woman who is passionate about her health and strength, maintaining positive relationships and learning more about giving back.
Thinking about it now, there are about four ways you are going to feel most isolated in this journey to success.
Your social life will suck
Oh sure, you know lots of people through work and they all are friendly with you…but are they really your friends?
Maybe they are just threatened by your confidence and success. This is what happened to me.
Not too long ago I had a Friday evening free, and asked around to a bunch of people about hanging out. One friend just gave me this weird reason why they were busy; and the other said “I’m not sure what I’ve got on yet”, which basically means — if I get a better offer I don’t want to commit to hanging out with you first. Believe it or not, this isn’t a once off occurrence.
The consequence:
Friends can be intimidated by your success and often will push you away. Ultimately, they are just projecting onto you the insecurities they have about themselves.
Your dating life will suck
I had one girl I’d hung out with ONCE tell me weeks later when I bumped into her drunk on the d-floor that I was too intimidating…”but you’re like ON the radio, you know, you’ve got this big job, how can I compete with that?”
The consequence:
See above.
You won’t feel understood.
The likelihood of meeting other like-minded people, passionate about upskilling at work, or hitting a new PB in the gym isn’t high anymore. You’ve basically singled yourself out from people who aren’t interested in breaking the binge-drinking cycle at 27 and are still dropping caps on a Sunday night.
And the consequence:
Your Friday nights now consist of eating too many carbs, watching Netflix alone and working.
People start acting like “YOU’VE CHANGED!”
You finally have the courage to move away from home to chase a career and when you come back to visit, you can spot bullshit faster than it takes you to send a bitchy text to your best friend.
In fact you realise—they’re right. You’ve changed but they haven’t.
The consequence:
You probably might not travel home for Christmas for the first time in your life. This means no emotional deep and meaningfuls with your tipsy family members who basically corner you to tell you what’s so wrong with the world.
A fresh start is just around the corner
It truly doesn’t matter where you are at and what you’re working on right now, but we’ve all felt what it’s like to try new things and be judged for them. No one deserves to feel unimportant because they want to be successful.
Better yet, 2020 is just around the corner. It’s a whole new decade and a new opportunity to reach your goals. Just remember, being successful — regardless of what stage you’re at, is tough work.
You have to leave your social life behind, you’ve gotta let go of what people think of you because it only drags you down, and when people say “oh just be careful of how much you take on, don’t burn out”, don’t listen to em. That’s a destructive attitude and you don’t need that.
Keep smashing goals.
Jess
