I’ve been saying ‘classy problems’
for over thirty years.
The problems don’t go away.
They get classier.
Failure is brutal.
Brutal is simple.
Do I quit?
Or go again?
Two choices.
The upside is that most people root for you.
They’ll pat you on the back.
Pick you up.
Say, “you’ll get ‘em next time.”
Success is harder.
It doesn’t eliminate problems.
It replaces them. It multiplies them.
Options stacked on options.
Too many choices.
Too little clarity.
Success creates complexity.
Not everyone claps when you rise.
Some liked the older version of me better.
The predictable one.
The one they could place.
The one that kept the balance intact.
That’s the hidden cost of success.
Not just pressure.
Betrayal.
When the people I thought would clap
don’t.
When I outgrow what used to fit.
The price of growth
is letting go of the old.
The loop of thinking success will only change
the parts I want to change.
Everything else will stay the same.
The paradox is this:
Success changes everything.