I look at myself and wonder why I’m not yet where I want to be. I compare what's inside me and on my surface to what is being displayed around me. I compare myself to the leaves that look beautiful even when they’re falling, and to the tree that can stand tall without them. Autumn is a time for change.

Change is never bad. We’re all changing. We call it growth and it's what we spend our whole lives trying to achieve. As children, we hope to grow into someone who is taller and more responsible than we are, who will live the life we can only dream of. After we gain our height, we still look longingly at our dreams and how we aim to achieve them. This is where we reach a stalemate. This is where we look around us and realize we are not yet what we want to be -- we haven't grown into it. We aren’t grown up.

The place between success and utter failure is possibly the scariest place there is. It's full of uncertainty and questions, fogging up your mind about what you thought you would be doing and where you thought you would be. But there’s nothing wrong with where you are.

Where you are in your career plan, education, or relationships, is a place that's okay to be for a little while. The work you put into what you want to achieve and the stress you put into becoming the person you want to be, that is where you are. Long hours of studying, practicing, or walking along the outskirts of your comfort zone will reward you with the goal that you are striving for. As you ignore your thoughts to give up or to do something easier, you make your future for yourself. You’re making it for yourself as you stumble through the fog in search of the light.

Put aside the stress that others place on you. They aren’t who you have to live with impressing. Work for yourself, and for the joy you’ll feel when you accomplish what you want. The first person you must make proud (the only person worth making proud) is yourself. The alternative to this would be to disappoint yourself by giving up or not even attempting what you know would have made you happy. There is nothing worse than to live disappointed in yourself.

Don’t focus on what could go wrong, since it hasn’t happened yet. Don’t focus on what has gone wrong, since you can’t change it. Focus on how great life could be if everything goes right because that's something you can change. You shape yourself and you’re the only one who can do that.

So continue to work hard. Continue to spend countless hours on something you don’t have entirely figured out yet. Say what could be the right thing to say. Look in the mirror and see who you are and who you’re becoming. See the success story that you're writing and work to achieve your dreams.

One day, you’ll be everything you’ve ever dreamed of being. You’ll know all you’ve ever hoped to know, will have seen all you hoped to see, and will be most proud of who you are today. The best part of succeeding is knowing that it will be all because of where you are right now and what you choose to do while you’re there.