But something happened when I got out into the world, something that changed me. It was the reconnection of being at one with yourself and with this world.

There is a whole world out there, waiting for you. A world filled with opportunities wherever and whenever you want to grasp them. And whether you do or you don’t…. Well that is totally up to you.

Traveling solo is an incredible – life changing – journey, which I can recommend anyone to undertake. It’s the fear of being alone that prevents many people from daring to take the step to go on that journey. But as with many things, within that fear you’ll discover the greatest triumphs.

We are constantly taught in both in what we read, and what we see on the TV be it consciously and subconsciously, that being unhappy is not normal. Every time we read or hear about how we should be feeling happy, and how we need to go about it, and for whatever reason we aren’t at that moment in time, well, you feel that’s something must be wrong with you. “What’s wrong with me, I should be feeling happy in my life, but I’m not. Every article I have read says all those steps on how to be happy, but they don’t seem to work for me, I am still unhappy.”You come to see unhappiness as some kind of problem with you, with your personality. Something not normal at all. But it is. It is very normal. It is part of every human being, it is a part of you, it is part of who you are. You’ve got to first of all understand and acknowledge that feeling unhappy is nothing but normal and it isn’t something you should be afraid of. It only means that your emotions are functioning well and are taking care of you by keeping you up to date with the truth.

You either live to become an anchor of inspiration for those around you, or you live to become an anchor for a lesson for them. Whatever you become, it is entirely up to you to decide.

Look within yourself and ask yourself honestly what you want to be. Throw away the idea that school is the only way to get educated. Anything can educate you. Understand this and look through all the possibilities.

Understand one thing very clearly. Because all this: your time, this world, your life in it and all of those opportunities, they have a deadline.

Problems, struggles, difficulties, whatever you want to call them, are normal. In fact, each and every person you see walking on the street, sitting in the metro, working out at the gym, wherever, is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Problems are the most human thing about being a human, and are one of the few things that each and every one of us has in common.

It’s true that no one ever said life would be easy, but it is also true that no one ever said you had to go through it alone.

Your scars are unique gems that contain opportunities for both personal growth and to help save the life of someone else. However, you can only realize these when you fully claim who you are. And to fully claim who you are also means recognizing, and taking ownership of the scars that come along with the rest of you.