I have learned that success is not universally-defined.

Rather, it is something that can only be determined for oneself.

I have been ‘successful’ in many ways throughout my almost-four decades of life.

I was raised in a loving family environment.

I was given the freedom to explore life through my formative years.

I had a roof over my head and food to fill my belly.

I was blessed.

But the world around me said that it wasn’t enough.

I was told that I should have more, want more, and be striving for more.

So that’s what I did.

I became successful in ways that received collective approval.

I had the fastest and loudest cars.

I had a high-flying corporate career.

I was playing the property game.

I was in a stable, long-term relationship.

I was earning more money than I knew what to do with.

But despite all of this, I felt empty and lost.

I was contending with a torrent of emotional instability, of which I could only keep at bay by turning a blind eye.

I was dealing with social anxiety.

I questioned the legitimacy of my relationship.

The connection I had with my parents was non-existent.

I hated my work culture and environment.

I lacked motivation and direction in anything that I did.

I was deeply unhappy and discontented.

I was locked in an intense struggle to reconcile my reality with the ideas I had grown up to believe.

Like a ship without a rudder, I was floating aimlessly through the ocean of life.

I was continually plagued by the question, “Why don’t I feel successful?”

To be frank, a large part of me didn’t really want to find out.

If I hadn’t been diagnosed with cancer in 2013, I don’t think I would have had to the courage to.

Cancer was, and remains, my greatest blessing.

It is what set me down the path of discovering for myself what it meant to be successful.

To be content with what I did everyday.

To be at peace with who I was.

To find joy in each and every moment.

Without cancer, I would not be the man I am today.

Without it, perhaps I would have remained a shell of who I could have been.

I was many things before I was told who I should be.

I was an artist.

I loved to draw, sketch and paint.

I was a thinker.

I enjoyed exploring and dissecting life beyond what is presented on the surface.

I was drawn to culture.

I had a deep affinity and gravitation to my hereditary lineage and roots.

I am still all of these things.

And over the past decade-plus, I have been on a journey rekindling and reigniting these latent embers which have always burned brightly within me.

I believe that we are each born with these embers flickering within us.

The idiosyncrasies that make you, uniquely you.

The alchemical coalescence of quirks and eccentricities that could only be perfectly contained within your being.

I call this our innate ‘essence.’

To me, the recognition, nurture, and celebration of this is what success means.

As a mentor, it is part of my role to support others in this life-long quest.

It matters little which ‘field’ you feel your essence lies, or whether you recognise it at all.

I have led and mentored professionally within a corporate setting for over a decade.

I have mentored business owners and entrepreneurs across various industries.

I have mentored individuals and groups in creative writing and publishing.

I have mentored professional musical artists.

I have mentored semi-professional athletes.

I have mentored individuals and groups who were lost and looking to discover a better sense of who they are.

Through my experience, what I’ve found most important is trust.

I believe that mentoring is a relationship.

Not between teacher and student, but between real human beings.

One does not walk ahead and lead the other.

It is a journey that is taken together, side-by-side.

So, if you believe that I can support and guide you, if you trust that I can help you in whatever capacity you feel is needed, then reach out.

Let’s explore the potential together.