By T. Wolff, Ph.D.
The Earned Power of Confidently Walking Alone
The most intriguing man you will ever meet is the man who no longer fears being left behind. He is just fine if he is not invited, because he has already learned how to survive without a seat at anybody else’s table. You can’t manipulate him with attention, you can’t control him with approval, and you can’t punish him with distance. Why? Because you’re trying to take away something he already stopped needing.
His independence, resourcefulness, achievements, and personal identity confirmations have developed in him a fully functioning, self-actualized, respected man of many masteries. He is a man of “grit,” who through persistence, mental toughness and resilience fostered an ability to turn set-backs into life-lessons of stoic clarity in an unshakable mind, body, and spirit.
The strength and credibility of his achievements have earned him the genuine respect afforded by only those who truly understand the depth and breadth of those achievements.
His unbridled discipline has rendered him both an integritous confidence, accompanied by an insightful humility, in helping those burdened with a lesser endowment. He is a disciple of the words of scientist Carl Sagan, wherein, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” His discipline generates authentic respect, as he quests for extraordinary evidence to confirm the “findings” in his life-journey.
Once a man becomes comfortably confident walking alone, the world loses its leverage over him. At that point, rejection feels like peace, being overlooked feels like freedom, all because the moment he stops soliciting the hollow validation from others, is the moment nobody can own him.
For some honest souls, the “journey” is long, arduous, and painful, but its life-lessons at the “finish-line” are priceless!
It’s not how you start, but how you finish!
—T. Wolff, Ph.D.