7 Shitty Feelings You’re Going To Experience Before Reaching Success

You’ll feel discouraged.

Even though you’re passionate about what you’re pursuing and know you have what it takes to reach your dreams, it’s not easy dealing with failure after failure. It’s tempting to throw in the towel and forget about your wildest dreams. Feeling discouraged is normal, especially when you’ve been working your hardest and still aren’t seeing results. But you have to keep going. You can’t give up now.

You’ll feel exhausted.

Reaching your dreams is never easy. You’re not going to cross off your biggest goals overnight. It takes hard work, patience, and determination. However, you need to know when to slow down and take a break. You don’t want to burn yourself out. Even though reaching your dreams takes an immense amount of work, it’s important to treat yourself gently. Don’t work yourself too hard. You don’t want your determination to backfire on you and make you miserable.

You’ll feel jealous.

There are other people who have what you so desperately want. Maybe they’re younger than you. Maybe they haven’t been in your industry as long as you. Maybe you can’t stop yourself from comparing your journeys – but their success doesn’t lower your chances of success. There’s enough room for everyone. Try to stop thinking of them as your competition and start thinking of them as your peer. Or as a motivational tool that can push you to work even harder.

You’ll feel miserable.

You might cry your eyes out on certain days because you want this more than anything. Even though those moments will be hard to get through, you need to remember it’s okay to be vulnerable, to let yourself care, to put your heart and soul into your passion. The reason why you’re so upset is because this dream means a lot to you. It means you have something worth fighting for.  

You’ll feel frustrated.

When you feel like you’ve been stuck in place, you’re bound to feel frustrated. You won’t understand what you’re doing wrong. You won’t understand what more you could possibly do to get ahead in your field. Even though it’s frustrating to feel like your best still isn’t good enough, you should be proud of yourself for trying your hardest. Keep learning, keep growing, and keep waiting. Sometimes, timing and luck are the only things standing in your way.

You’ll feel embarrassed.

You’ll feel like you should have accomplished more by now, like you’re falling behind, like everyone else is surpassing you. As you get older, it’s harder to accept your unfulfilled dreams. But you need to remember, there’s no timeline when it comes to success. You could reach your dreams tomorrow or ten years from now, but you’d still be reaching them. Some journeys are longer than others, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less impressive.

You’ll feel doubt.

There will be moments when you wonder whether you’ve been fooling yourself, whether you’ve been wasting your time, whether your dreams are never going to become a reality. No matter how confident you are in your abilities, there are going to be days when your hope falters. But you have to keep going. Remember why you started. Remember how much your passion means to you.