
The Million Dollar Question - jirinovotny
http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/the-million-dollar-question
======
ryanwaggoner
This is a fantastic post, very thought-provoking. But also very sad to me. I
disagree with the underlying premise that success and happiness are somehow
negatively correlated. There's this idea in the post that if you want to be
uber-successful, you can't have a "normal" life.

I know very successful people who are miserable, stressed-out workaholics. And
I know very successful people who could have been one of the people strolling
around Sebastian when he was writing this post. I know people who run startups
from their home office and take their kids to school in the morning. Hell,
look at Sebastian's own situation: he apparently has enough time to sit and
pontificate for a couple hours on a train platform in Japan, in the middle of
the day. He can't be working THAT hard :) Maybe what he's trying to say is
that you can't have the idyllic suburban family life if you want to float
around the world living off of random consulting gigs? But there are probably
quite a few very successful people here on HN that live relatively idyllic
family lives in cities and suburbs all over the world.

I think the idea of feeling isolated for being very ambitious is true, but I
would caution Sebastian and others against the idea that you have to sacrifice
your connection to a community, your face-to-face relationships, your health,
and your overall happiness on the alter of amassing $40m for an amorphous
purpose like being able to build a shrine with 5% of your wealth or less. You
certainly can sacrifice all those things, but most people will never amass
$40m no matter what they sacrifice. Better to find something (and someone)
that you love, work hard at it, and enjoy life. Yes, you should take chances,
yes you should push yourself and be ambitious. But this is the only life you
get; don't squander it living a life you don't enjoy because you're hoping for
the big payoff down the road. It probably won't come.

~~~
mixmax
I think you might be misunderstanding the post - or at least interpreting it
differently than me.

I dont' think it's so much about success as it's about being different. Once
you step over the cliff into the unknown there aren't that many people that
will follow you. You become a loner, a misfit and a stranger to many people.
Your desires, goals and interests drift away from normality, and thus you will
eventually find yourself in a state of loneliness because there's noone else
like you.

I think that's what it's about.

I wrote something similar, albeit on a more positive note, some time back:
<http://www.maximise.dk/blog/2009/04/moving-boat.html>

~~~
ryanwaggoner
That's one of the ideas presented, and one that I agree with. That's part of
why I think it's important to have people around you who are supportive in
general, but also people who have similar goals and dreams. No matter how
abnormal you are, there are probably many out there who can relate.

But that's only part of the post, and Sebastian seems to indicate that "being
different" means not living the idyllic suburban family life. And not because
he doesn't want it, but because he's driven and wants to succeed (like where
he talks about $40m as being his number). And this is what I disagree with;
you can be driven and successful and still have a happy family life. You can
even live in suburbia! There are literally millions of millionaires in the
world. There are almost a million households in the US with net worth of more
than $5m. Most of those people live normal family lives. They don't all float
around continents writing blog posts and attempting to win the lottery by
trying to start a bank one month and sell a $2m government contract the next.

In fact, now that I'm thinking through this, I think what bums me out about
this post is the idea that it doesn't really matter what you do as long as you
get rich. I doubt Sebastian has any real interest in starting a bank or
fulfilling a huge government contract. He just wants money, and it's not even
clear why. I don't think that's a healthy way to live, that's all.

~~~
kirse
_He just wants money, and it's not even clear why. I don't think that's a
healthy way to live, that's all._

Reminds me of Ecclesiastes... "Whoever loves money never has money enough..."
The entire book is full of wisdom on chasing the vanity of material goods and
all that is "under the sun".

By all accounts, Solomon was a man who had everything the American dream could
ever hope for - money, possessions, women, power, prestige... And yet from his
position on high, he realized it was all meaningless. Pretty powerful.

------
rdouble
Almost every millionaire I know is married with kids and living in the
suburbs. Unless you win the lottery or are a professional skateboarder,
becoming rich is more like boring suburban reality than being an international
flaneur. (Interestingly, the rich pro skaters I know all live in the suburbs
with their kids, too)

As someone who has also floated around a lot, even through Japan, it's an
interesting lifestyle but sort of the opposite of how to get rich.

~~~
Vandy_Travis
I don't think he's talking about being rich, although he does reference money
a lot. I interpreted the money references as a simple way to keep score (and
one deeply ingrained in many cultures).

I think he's talking about the modern entrepreneur. Specifically, the people
who are creating new markets, or are disrupting old markets. In order to do
that, you need to be different than other people. I think he's saying that
separates him from others because the drive for being fundamentally different
(not the "color your hair" type, but the "visionary entrepreneur") is at odds
with the human need for commiseration or comparability.

------
davidw
I'm not sure I buy it. I've met plenty of wealthy people who were happy to
come home to a pretty normal family because their jobs are a constant source
of novelty, stress and challenges. If one feels the need to stick out as part
of one's identity, great, but it's just one way of living. I kind of like
sticking out as a foreigner over here in Italy sometimes; it has its positive
aspects. I certainly chose a road less traveled, but whatever, to each his
own. For other things I'm happy to be pretty ordinary: I have a wife and two
fantastic children and live in what passes for burbs over here.

Also, being a bit of a skeptic and contrarian, perhaps some of these people
had other good reasons to say no to his plans. Without knowing their point of
view, more about his proposals, and other particulars, maybe their inaction
_was_ sensible.

------
astrofinch
There are lots of bugs in peoples' brains that prevent them from doing things
that seem like good ideas, and I don't think the fear of becoming illegible
([http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2011/07/31/on-being-an-
illegible-p...](http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2011/07/31/on-being-an-illegible-
person/)) is anywhere near the most important one.

My vote for the most important bug is as follows.

It looks as though human brains were architected to think in two modes: "near"
mode and "far" mode. The reason for this is that early human tribes had
important rules that directly impacted survival and reproduction (for example,
"don't take more than your share of the food", "don't sleep with another man's
wife"). It was critical for us to tell others that we were going to uphold
these rules or we would get kicked out of the tribe. At the same, time our
genetic fitness would increase massively if we could find a way to covertly
break those rules while still upholding them verbally (more food and more
descendents for successful rule breakers).

The upshot of this is that even if something looks good when processed using
far mode it's not necessarily easy to translate it into near mode where it
actually gets done.

In my view, this is an explanatory factor for procrastination as well. For
example, the popular Google Chrome extension Chrome Nanny
([https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gpdgmmdbbbchchonpf...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gpdgmmdbbbchchonpfanphofpplhmcmn))
requires the user to enter 64 random alphanumeric characters before visiting a
distracting site--which moves the idea of visiting this site from near mode
(where it might actually happen) to far mode (where it won't).

For more on near and far modes you can read
<http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/06/near-far-summary.html>. Note that novel
tasks and desirable risky acts are both associated with far mode.

~~~
znq
Chrome Nanny link seems to be correct (Google Search suggests the same), but
it actually doesn't work. Has it been removed from the Chrome Store just
recently?

------
Jun8
"Why won't you?" Indeed. I created this HN user almost two years ago, before I
applied to YC. In these two years I did pretty much nothing towards my goal,
except reading HN, nodding in agreement over good posts, and bookmarking stuff
on Delicious, adding to the hundreds I already have. What stops me? Fear? No,
I just _know_ I can be successful with my idea. Laziness? Maybe, but I've
worked 18 hr days on projects I liked. So what? I don't know.

Meanwhile I will upvote this article and bookmark it.

~~~
analyst74
This is exactly what I feel too! I'm generally lazy when there is no goal and
no pressure, but I do work hard on things when there is a need, interest,
deadline or even peer pressure. But when it comes to the big dreams, I
procrastinate, and I don't know why.

I just up-voted and bookmarked this article.

~~~
LiveTheDream
> when it comes to the big dreams, I procrastinate, and I don't know why.

It's difficult to break down big goals into a series of attainable steps.
Faced with this challenge, it becomes easier to maintain the status quo and
not do anything.

------
ScottWhigham
Very powerful - thanks for sharing.

 _But the more you do, the further away you get from being understood, from
the joys of normal life, from being understood by your neighbors and backing
each other up and living together harmoniously.

I cried for the first time in three years when I realized it.

The million dollar question… why don’t people take the large opportunities in
front of them? Why don’t they allow their dreams to become realities?

Become it means you won’t be understood. And we need to be understood,
fundamentally, it’s so important to us._

Wow.

~~~
spydum
I think this is really where YC shines and becomes such a magnet for success:
you have guys who are willing to try out ideas that most people probably don't
understand yet. Since many of the YC candidates are in a similar situation,
they can begin to feel comfortable, and even understood among their peers..
giving them the confidence to be boldly different.

------
sgentle
I really enjoyed this article. I'm not actually convinced that the answer is a
fear of not being understood by others, but it's very close or the writing
wouldn't resonate the way it does. The problem is that I know lots of people
who couldn't give the slightest damn about fitting in, or who are already
occupied in a field far enough from societal norms that their job description
takes a whiteboard and a venn diagram on a good day.

I wish I could remember who said this; I think it was M. Scott Peck, but I
can't find the reference: we are attached to our own mental model of
ourselves. So attached that we will fight to maintain that model even if it's
useless or actively harmful.

An example: have you ever noticed that if someone's depressed, complimenting
them doesn't work? Have you noticed that you yourself feel awkward when others
compliment you? That might seem obvious, but only because you've absorbed it
through repeated exposure. Think about it: why in the world would someone
saying good things about you feel uncomfortable? Shouldn't it be basically the
best thing you can get?

The answer is that when you're thinking "I'm average looking at best" and
someone says "you're beautiful!" it's like someone just tried to rip your left
brain from your right. How can you possibly reconcile these two things? You
have to either destroy your own sense of self or reject the person's
compliment.

I suspect that in this case what looks like fear that the world will
misunderstand you is actually fear that you misunderstand yourself. Jumping
head-first into a crazy idea isn't just changing what you do; it's changing
who you are, and that's goddamn terrifying.

------
ForrestN
Sebastian identifies a key problem that underlies a lot of how society works:
lots of people effectively have motives to avoid things they want. But I'm not
sure he's right about his reading of why the problem exists. As nice as it is
to think of this as some kind of trade-off, I'm not sure that most people gain
any normalcy or understanding, at least not in any positive way.

Think about his friend, the one who's big goal is financial independence. It's
his primary first-order objective, and he's being shown a plan to pursue it.
He's not afraid to pursue it because he thinks it's going to cause him to be
less understood (at least one of his friends, Sebastian, will probably relate
to him more). He just flinches at the thought of really going after what he
wants.

The million dollar question is the right one: why do people get anxious and
self-sabotage when a path to success is put in front of them?

Unfortunately I think the answer is that most people have a lot of
psychological conflicts around being happy/getting what they want. Why this
happens is probably some complicated mixture of neurology of and pain acquired
in childhood, and how to fix the problem is one of the central aims of
psychology and psychiatry. The behavior Sebastian describes in his friend is a
great example of one's ability to function being impaired by his psychology.

Hopefully we'll get even better at fixing these sort of problems, but in the
mean time, hopefully more people will understand that these problems aren't
inherent to living life, that there's no sad tradeoff to going after the life
you want, and thus be comfortable seeking treatment. You don't have to be
crazy to pursue psychological help, you just have to notice that your feelings
sometimes get in the way of you functioning the way you want to.

------
ender7
Man, what a memorable post.

I like to think about his main point of "people won't understand you" a little
differently. Humans were originally pack animals, and it shows. You are
nothing without your pack, but together the pack is strong. Modern life isn't
nearly so simplistic, but we still have our packs, albeit a little more
nuanced. The place we work. The neighborhood we live in. Our family. Our
friends (who are probably drawn from work, neighborhood, and family).

Doing what Sebastian does seems to be a lonely path. You get to be the alpha,
but only of a pack of one. I get this feeling when seeing a lot of executives
interviewed - men and women who are supposedly at the helm of enormous packs,
but in practice seem a lot more alone than one might imagine.

------
aganders3
Thanks, I enjoyed this post. I don't resonate with everything he says, but it
was worth reading. The more philosophical points of his post were an
interesting contrast to this piece I read yesterday:
[http://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/08/21/the-illusion-of-
asymm...](http://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/08/21/the-illusion-of-asymmetric-
insight/)

Reading the OP I was actually a bit put off by what seems like vague
braggadocio, but then I turned it around on myself - maybe that's me suffering
from the same illusion as a mask for my own jealousy?

------
martinkallstrom
When I decided to embark on a new project this summer, I was at first held
back by fear of failure. When I looked closer at the fear I realized that I
could hack it by redefining my terms of success. Instead of defining success
as making it big, I defined it as climbing up a steep learning curve. To do
something new and learn from it, that's my definition of success.

And like that, the fear was gone. I'm now one month into my project, and I'm
crushing it. Never been happier.

------
DanielBMarkham
I really liked this post. Sebastian continues to develop his conversational
style. Very nice.

Asshole consultant inside of me kept nodding early on: "You just don't get it,
Sebastian! Charge more!"

You see, there's a very sad truth consultants learn early on: it doesn't
matter how much you know that can help somebody. All that matters is how much
influence you can have.

The reason some consultants charge ten times what others do for the same
information? It's not that they are ten times as smart; it's that they don't
want to waste their life giving great advice to people who aren't going to
value it. If you walk in the door at 10K per day, bet your bottom dollar
people are going to listen to you. And that means you can help. Walk in the
same door for free, just to help out a friend? Your advice, by definition, is
worthless. You'd be lucky getting them to accept just a tiny piece of advice.

But then I got to the key of the piece: when you do finally "get it", it
changes your relationship with "normal" folks.

I think Sebastian's being a bit over-dramatic here, but I firmly agree. There
is something very crazy about making money from thin air. Especially how it's
done today, with some keystrokes and a bunch of virtual magic. At least in the
old days if you met a millionaire he could take you down to his factory or
something. Maybe told you about all the hard work he's done.

Nowadays the same type of guy made much more money that than that _and there's
not even an office._ For most people, it just doesn't compute. In fact, I'd go
so far as to say that to most people, there's something just _wrong_ about
making money the way it's made today on the net. Something shady. If you're
lucky you get the "odd weirdo" label. If you're unlucky you attract attention
from people you would rather not.

Because of that, I think I'm giving up on the $40Mil dream. I'm happy just to
make enough to free up my time to work on things I love doing. I'll let the
other guys be the really extreme weirdos. :)

Short side story: I sold a piece of land a year or so ago. It wasn't much, but
it was in the tens of thousands of dollars. The guy who bought it paid cash.
He was a contractor. Over the past decade he had been saving here and there,
scrimping up enough in cash to make his dream come true. He kept it all in
hundred-dollar bills in a large ziplock bag. It wouldn't have been my choice
but it worked for him.

As he paid me, he told me he had gotten stopped for a bad taillight by the
police a few months back. Once they saw his money that he had been saving, he
had a hell of a time convincing them he wasn't a drug dealer. While I
understand that carrying large amounts of cash is suspicious, to hear him tell
it the police went far beyond suspicious and started thinking there was
definitely something wrong going on. You see, to those small-town cops, you
just don't carry that amount of money around. Somebody who looked like that
should not have the amount of money like this. Just having the money was an
indication of something really bad, even if it could all be explained.

He almost lost all of it.

You can only stand out so much -- the forces of society will gently (or not so
gently) pull you back into line. You either have to conform or move to some
place where the definition of "normal" is different.

~~~
brazzy
"If you walk in the door at 10K per day, bet your bottom dollar people are
going to listen to you."

Maybe. Or maybe they're just executives with enough clout and lack of scruples
that they'll spend 10k per day of the company's money to have someone make
pretty powerpoint slides in which carefully massaged data "proves" that a
certain course of action (that will help the executive's career) is best for
the company. And another 10k per day to have someone to take the blame if it
has disastrous consequences or involves firing lots of people.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
You're absolutely correct. I had to generalize to make the point, but you have
identified one of the flaws in my generalization.

The other flaw is that the amount doesn't really matter. What matters is the
pain that it causes the client. Many large corporations can and do write large
checks for consulting that they never intend to follow -- for various reasons.
Just because the amount seems big to you doesn't mean it's even noticeable by
the client.

But still, rates are a signaling mechanism. Even with higher rates, there's
still a lot of careful screening you should do before accepting a client.
Assuming you're in that position, of course.

There's a whole school of thought that says that even when clients are playing
political games with consultants, it's still possible to have positive
influence. But that's completely off the track from the simple point about
people accepting advice. People are more likely to accept advice if it is done
as part of some reciprocal arrangement or trade. Free advice is mostly
worthless.

------
Dove
Fantastic insight that people tend to say "no" when offered a chance to pursue
their dreams. But I disagree about the reason. I don't think it's that they
don't want to be different; having an interesting dream is _already_ being a
bit different. I think it's that once you can have something, it's no longer a
dream.

------
seats
This is awesome, and I totally agree-

"It’s like everyone fantasizes about… whatever… but once their fantasies start
to become reality, they piss their pants and self-sabotage."

------
redsymbol
Very inspirational. If you're a startup founder/entrepreneur, worth your time
to read fully.

Reading from beginning to end, I found the last paragraph powerfully moving.
(Skipping to the end won't work - that last short para builds on everything
before.)

------
csomar
Change in financial situations creates lot of stress. When your stress level
is high, the typical path you are going to take is the one that alleviates
your stress and not increase it.

Sebastian is suggesting x10 higher wages for his clients. This is a financial
breakthrough in the life of the client. It creates enormous amount of stress.
The stress pushes you back, for a less stressful zone.

I say this because I was there, and I'm sure I'll be there again. I see this
differently than the OP. I don't think that people don't understand you,
especially when they are smart. The simple fact of thinking of it generate
stress and they hide from hard/stressful situation.

------
joss82
It proves, once again, that extrinsic motivation does not work.

If you help someone achieve a goal, they will owe you some of their success,
lessening their own merit.

On the opposite, as this story shows, the intrinsic motivation can make you do
stuff that you thought impossible:
<http://www.maximise.dk/blog/2009/04/moving-boat.html>

So maybe to help people achieve their dream, you have to tell them that it
can't be done, that it's impossible.

This would be a truly altruistic way to help people, since you can't claim any
part of their success in that case. All they will tell you will be "I told you
it can be done!".

------
cynicalkane
This is a great post, but what I really want to know is how to make a million
bucks without Sebastian Marshall mentoring you and no real connections.
Actually, maybe I start by trying harder to make connections.

~~~
xyzzyz
_how to make a million bucks without Sebastian Marshall mentoring you_

I think it's exactly his point -- why don't you just take his advice? He seems
like he's perfectly happy to help.

------
mikecane
Holy shit, yes. But you don't even have to talk about the kind of skywalking
he's engaged in. Anyone from a blue-collar or lower-class background who does
non-manual labor is automatically alienated from everyone and everything they
knew. See Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams by Alfred Lubrano.
[http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-047126376...](http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471263761,descCd-
reviews.html)

------
typicalrunt
Amazing post. I read every word of it (as opposed to just scanning it).

What type of work does he do* and where can I meet/read more people like him?

He strikes me as a kind of mentor...something which I find is lacking in the
IT industry. Mentors don't always need to be the smartest person in the room,
they just need to have experience and patience to see the things that you are
blind to.

* He says he's a strategist, but that's awfully vague.

~~~
espadagroup
From his about page:

"I’m consulting on increasing LVOC numbers (lifetime value of a customer –
usually selling additional valuable things to customers you’ve already got,
but also conversion rates, price points, referrals, etc), doing some light
real estate development, and some professional writing."

~~~
typicalrunt
Understood. But you misunderstand me. I read that section of his About page,
but it's not succinct enough.

If I were to walk into a crowded room and say, "For my business to succeed, I
need an %X", what would be the value of X for it to apply to Sebastian's role?
I can't just say "consultant".

~~~
pchristensen
There's not a word for it, but I'm pretty every business ever anywhere would
benefit from someone who "increases LVOC numbers". And the best business won't
be stopped by the lack of a buzzword.

~~~
mds
I took that as part of his point -- there isn't a convenient buzzword or easy
label to describe what he does, which leads to fear and "people won't
understand".

------
rjbond3rd
Great writing, but here is a quibble regarding the "...pretty girl, maybe 23
years old. She’s not beautiful... she’ll... be a very good wife for someone."

Ouch. I know he's just day-dreaming there, and his point is that she is a
"normal" person. But why define her success in terms of being a "wife for
someone"? She could -already- be an incredibly successful, independent person
living life on her own terms, making her own rules.

And for all we know, she may be just as alienated from normalcy as the author.
Sorry to nitpick but this hit home for me.

------
tintin
I'll be fair with him: I would also decline because I would not like to be
like him. For me it has nothing to do with being understood. I read his 'who
am I' and all I thought was "man, his life is so empty". But I can't say why.

Sometimes people just want a simple life. Making a lot of money or working
less hours does not mean your life will be better or more enjoyable.

------
cgopalan
The call to action on this post seems to be stop worrying about the fact that
you will not be understood and go ahead with your plans.

I am curious. Does the fear of not fitting in outweigh the benefits of
financial freedom?

I dont know the answer to this question since I have never been in that
situation, so I thought I would ask.

~~~
Dan_Nguyen
(Bear in mind I'm going into biomedical research, which is a very different
field than CS or Entrepreneurship, which seem to make up the majority of HN
users)

For me it's not the fear of not fitting in, per se, but the loneliness that
comes with being misunderstood by those around you.

I find that the point he made of not being understood when I started to pursue
my career aspirations rings very true. I wouldn't blame others' inability to
understand on ignorance so much as lack of experience, in that not that many
people have experienced the biomedical research field for themselves, so
therefore have no way of understanding the nuances or the lifestyle of it all
beyond hearsay.

That lack of understanding in turn leads to an inability to connect with me,
or conversely, an inability for me to connect with most people. My career
takes up the majority of my time and thoughts, and as a result is one of the
most important aspects of my own life. When people are unable to understand
that, they in effect do not understand me as a person.

Furthermore, there's the fact that I and other people who want very badly to
accomplish their dreams are often very hardworking. A bit anecdotal, but I've
also found that the people who are physically in my life are by far not driven
to work as hard as I do. I find a sense of happiness working 12 hours in a
research lab and coming in on weekends. The "average" person in my life,
however, is the sort of person who looks at a career as a means to make money;
a commitment they only have to fulfill between the hours of 9AM and 5PM on
weekdays. Anything beyond that (time after work, weekends, etc.) should be
dedicated to partying and the like.

Going back to the point I was making before: these differences in
personalities between myself and almost everyone in my life makes it almost
impossible for me to truly connect with someone.

And for reasons I can't really explain beyond "human nature", even though it
makes perfectly logical sense to focus on my work and be as efficient as
possible, I find that interpersonal connections to be something I cannot live
without. For me, there is immense comfort to be had in being able to talk to
people about your life (which again for me mostly revolves around work) and
have a true understanding of it all.

I'm very lucky enough to have a small yet very close group of friends who are
like that (although mostly online due to college; thank you internet). However
in the past two years I've already fell out of contact with most of my friends
because of my shift from (and I do apologize as I can't think of a better
term) a commonplace life to one that is unorthodox to most people. So a big
lingering fear of mine is, "If I continue on with my goals, will I still have
anyone in my life I can connect with?" While so far the answer has been "yes",
the past two years still leave a very strong, lingering fear in the back of my
mind. And while it's very true that I've come into contact with and maintain a
personal relationship with many people above me and have gone through the same
path as me, for me it's no replacement for having people in your life that are
going through the same life challenges that you're experiencing yourself. As
the saying goes, "Misery loves company".

On a more minor note unrelated to the article, another sort of fear I've felt
(and am still feeling) is really fear of the unknown. I was the sort of person
who did just enough in my life. I'd go so far as to say I was complacent with
myself. This whole lifestyle of being ambitious, proactive, and actively and
constantly working towards a dream that once felt unobtainable to you is all a
new experience. Others above me/more experienced than me have told me stories
about their own lives but in the end actually going through with the life
yourself is completely different than hearing stories about it. For me,
everything I'm doing now is new, unfamiliar, unknown, and as a result it's
nerve wracking and scary.

While I know that everything above is not universal and there will be others
on HN that have different experiences/viewpoints, these are my honest
viewpoints shaped by my own experiences in my life. I hope this helped with
your question.

~~~
cgopalan
First of all, thanks for taking the time to write up the detailed answer to my
question. While reading it, I realized that the OP was talking about fear of
not fitting in DURING the process of achieving success, not after. That makes
more sense and your position made me aware of that.

Regarding your fear of the unknown, I would say (as would anybody) that this
is only natural. The best thing we can do is constantly remind ourselves of
something that encourages us. I look to Frost's beautiful poem "The Road Not
Taken", especially the ending stanza:

    
    
      I shall be telling this with a sigh
      Somewhere ages and ages hence:
      Two roads diverged in a wood and I -
      I took the one less traveled by,
      And that has made all the difference.

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Hisoka
I just want to say.. this is 1 of the most insightful, and meaningful posts
I've read in my entire life. Thank you so much for sharing this. I resonated
with every single bit. Thanks for not making feel alone in my thoughts.

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fscottqureshi
Way too wordy, not nearly as insightful as he thinks it is.

This guy is clearly so full of it on so many levels. All hat, no cattle.

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idlewords
What.

A prolix.

Douchebag.

~~~
davidw
The post was not my cup of tea, but being rude about it is for other sites.

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killion
When the headline is meaningless it doesn't make me want to click off.

