There’s a certain degree of comfort one must have with oneself, his ideas and capability for action if one plans to have any success doing something unique, great, out of the ordinary, and worthy of praise.

I’ve inherently always known this, but it’s been heavily driven into me by the exposure and situations in which I’ve found myself over the past few weeks. In no other time have I faced so much potential and opportunity. It’s like God decided to put together some packages of sunshine, box them up and deliver it to my door early in the morning. Waking up to opportunity — abrupt opportunity, as it is — is a product of one’s environment, quality of insight and understanding why one is where one is.

If light is one extreme, then darkness is the other. One’s quantum of solace with oneself, especially on the path I’ve chosen, is incredibly important when navigating the storms that are inevitably faced in pursuing one’s dream.

I’m reminded of what Jack said in the first episode of Lost, when he’s talking to Kate about performing surgery and almost killing the small girl on whom he’s operating. He said something like “I was scared, but I wouldn’t let the fear control me. I let myself be afraid for 10 seconds, then I set about to work. I saved her life. Nobody ever knew how close to death she was.”

I admit I’ve been pretty low over the past few weeks, let the fear / doubt / disappointment / discouragement run its course, then looked towards the sky and got moving again. It’s fun, exciting, but requires perseverance.

One aspect of this persistence is knowing why I’m here, what I want to do, and gauging the buckets of advice and input that come my way every day. It’s understanding the motivations of those around you while not being overly concerned with it. It’s balancing what you want with a willingness to compromise and veer.

So what should be your takeaway from this post? Learn to know yourself and how far you’re willing to go to do what you want. Once you know that, it all falls into place. Really, I promise.

**Special thanks to Kyle Collins for sending me this email and prompting me to begin writing again! The email is as follows: “Seriously man, when are you going to give your avid readers an idea of what is going on with you in boston!?”

He’s a great guy. Blackbaud, you should promote him tomorrow.