Wonderhell: Why Success Doesn't Feel Like It Should . . . and What to Do About It

AS SEEN ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA

Have you ever accomplished something you weren't so sureyou could do? Success has always been the end goal, but when you achieve it ...something infuriatingly predictable happens. You start wondering what more youcan do.

Instead of success bringing you happiness, it hands you anincreased hunger to achieve something even bigger. And with that desire alsocomes uncertainty, self-doubt, anxiety and stress.

Success, in other words, is kinda wonderful ... but it'salso kinda hell. Welcome to Wonderhell.

Wonderhell is that space in your psyche where the burden ofyour newly discovered potential plops down, unpacks its backpack, and asks:Hey, you! Whatcha got for me?

Living in an ambitious, results-oriented society, we oftenmischaracterize the turbulent emotions that surround success, deeming them a"necessary evil"--a byproduct of one's rise to the top. We tend to think that wejust need to survive these difficult moments, to hang on by our fingernails andsomehow get through these stressful, unwanted side effects of our success. Wetorture ourselves with a never-ending internal dialogue: I can handle this. CanI handle this?

But we are wrong.

Learning to live in this newfound potential can be excitingrather than exhausting. Emotions like fear, anxiety, and heartbreak are notcollateral damage, slings and arrows to be absorbed and swallowed down,silenced and pushed aside. Rather, each emotion is a portal that shows us whatmore we can do, if instead we recognize that on the other side of thiswonderful hell that we so badly wanted is another and another and another . ..  but only if we choose to accept it.