Do You Stop To Smell The Roses On Your Way To Success?

“I told you more than twenty years ago, I only intend to visit hell once!” Zoya reminds the three females staring at her with desperation in their eyes.

“We need help,” Sharon pleads. “We made mistakes that we can’t undo.”

Zoya’s anger turned her eyes red, and she huffed and fumed, then said, “I have four tickets to see Grace Linton. She works miracles on the mind and your way of thinking.”

Sharon, Gloria, and Leah agreed.

Two days later all four friends sat in the front row of the second aisle in the Billards Hotel Ballroom. Grace Linton again took the back, greeting the audience as she proceeded towards the stage dressed comfortably in light blue jeans and a white T-shirt. White Nike sneakers and white ankle socks caressed her feet.

She jumped in quickly, “When climbing the ladder to success many of us stopped often to smell the roses and some lost their way.”

Zoya’s right hand shot up in the air, and someone handed her a microphone.

“Thank you,” she said taking it. “I believed that hell is failure and heaven is success. I am aware that I must stop at hell, before getting to heaven.”

Grace nods with a smile, “I love how you put it. That interpretation of failure and success must have strengthened your determination.”

Zoya agreed, “I intend to get out of hell with everything I need along with the intention of not returning.”

“Ok,” Grace said as the audience’s attention grabs on to every word said.

“More than twenty years ago after I finished college, I told my friends that I can’t stop to smell the roses, because it will slow my steps to heaven.”

Grace’s brows hoisted.

And a voice said, “You mean success.”

“How?” Someone else asked before she could respond.

“A degree doesn’t mean success for me,” Zoya shares with a nod. “I believe that I should live like a dog, for five years. Then live like a queen for the rest of my life.”

“I like that approach,” Grace expressed with a smile.

“Plus,” Zoya went on. “Like I said, I intend only to visit hell once.”

“You aren’t making sense,” Gloria said.

“You didn’t take vacation?” Grace asked Zoya.

“No,” she answered. “My company allowed my two weeks to roll over for up to three years.”

“You had a second job?” Grace asked again.

“We all had second jobs,” Gloria notified.

“Yes,” Zoya said. “And with six weeks of a paid vacation, I put more time into my second job, plus working on the weekend. Increasing my income.”

“Very smart,” someone in the audience shouts.

“Your friends relaxed on the weekends?” Grace quests.

“More like party,” Zoya states.

“We were young, all we wanted was to enjoy our lives while living it,” Sharon defends.

“And your friend didn’t?” someone asked.

“It would make my stay in hell longer,” Zoya enlightens.

“My friend Charmaine did some of the things you did,” A voice to her right shares.

“I didn’t eat out,” Zoya continued. “I go natural with my hair. I cook and eat healthily while taking lunch to work. I parked my car and took the bus, choosing jobs near where I live. Saving time on commuting, money on car maintenance, gas, insurance, etc.”

“And your friends did the opposite of everything you did?” Grace asked.

“We have a right to enjoy our lives,” Leah protested.

Grace nods in agreement, then asked, “Your friends went on vacations?”

“They eat out often. Go on luxury cruises for vacations. Spa treatments, the works,” Zoya told.

“Working two jobs is stressful,” Sharon complains.

“And there was no time to stop and smell the roses for you?” Grace asked Zoya.

“Like I said,” Zoya stressed. “I told them that I have no intention of visiting hell twice. When I get out. I intend to stay out!”

“Did you?” Grace asked.

“It took me ten years to get out. I own three residential properties that provide me with more income than the two jobs I had for ten years. Only one is still mortgaged and it’s paying for itself. I work part time and can spend time raising my children while my husband works part time too. I have more time to do what I want. When I want it. With whomever I want. I can stop and smell all roses that I want to smell.”

“What do your friends have?” Grace asked.

“Memories of their vacations and all the time they stopped to smell the roses. While struggling with their thirty-year mortgage, two jobs, paying babysitters to raise their children, stress, life-style diseases, while facing threats of job loss from AI technology etc.”

Staring at Sharon, Leah, and Gloria, Grace asked, “Why didn’t you listen to her?”

“Living like a dog, wasn’t very appealing to us more than twenty years ago,” they admitted. “She was weird and crazy.”

“Do you still think she is now?”

Silence held them briefly as they struggled through the past and future. They nodded then agreed, “No, we regretted not following her advice.”

Someone asked Zoya, “What if you didn’t achieve the success you want?”

Silence grabbed the audience briefly and Zoya smiled and shared, “I don’t live on ‘what ifs,’ I live on ‘whens.’”

The audience erupted in applause.

No two journeys to success are the same. I refused to stop and smell the roses on my way to success. I believe that it will slow me down. Sorry, I was in a hurry. I knew hell and when I left, I had no intention of going back, because, for me, the hard part isn’t getting there. It’s staying there.

That area, many have failed in.

My system worked for me. By doing what I did, I was able to be around to grow up again with my boys. My second childhood was happier than my first. I am looking for a third one with my grandchild. I am never too busy to see life while living it. I can stop and smell every flower I pass without consequences.

What was your journey to success like?

Thank you for reding this piece. I hope you enjoy it.