REACH

When you are at the brink of success, one of the few obstacles left that it is even possible to encounter is self-sabotage.  

Why would anyone deliberately do that?

For one, it can be daunting to rejoin the class that let you down.  Your allies have moved on, your symbols of belonging are shabby, out of sync, or missing, your anger may be difficult to manage (which ignites its own problems), you are starting broke instead of building on a fruitful legacy, and you have to rekindle within yourself and reestablish among others your sense of entitlement to be there.  

At the same time, you have the challenge of integrating this re-entry with the beneficial parts of your life outside the candy store - parts that should not be abandoned. 

Failure carries less risk.  Aside from knowing the terrain, there is actually prestige in being a high performer among the less well off.  Sadly, this prestige can become a burning shame when we rise to the bottom of the much better heap that is next, especially if it is the same heap from which we fell – or leaped - from a much higher elevation. 

This can make recovery more traumatic than the fall.  

But there is only one way to get to whatever it is we seek:  Reach.

Then reach again.  Reach some more.  

Reach until you die.

This is not just pep talk - there is a perfect reason to reach beyond self-sabotage and its litter of excuses: your place in the universe demands it; it is your duty.  One of the most inspiring quotes I have ever heard is incorrectly attributed to Nelson Mandela:

“We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world ... As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

When it’s put like that, who can possibly refuse?