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Happiness does not lie in the result, but in the process. When you think you have conquered happiness or success—whatever you want to call it—it will certainly desert you. If you keep running after happiness or success without enjoying or embracing the process, you will become the victim of your own success.

Stress-related health issues, anxiety disorders, and cases of depression have skyrocketed over the past 30 years, despite the fact that many people have flat-screen TVs at home and can have groceries delivered. Hence, our crisis is no longer material; it’s existential and spiritual.

Our society today, influenced by social media, has forgotten the real meaning of happiness and success. We want to show others how we are progressing, despite the fact that we still lack confidence. We want to show how happy we are, despite struggling to pay tuition and rent. We share ideas on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that we have never experienced or lived through. We present a false, façade image of ourselves.

This is because we do not want to progress in real life—we just want to show others that we are progressing (even when we haven’t). This lack of self-respect has always held us back from achieving anything real.

The challenge is to start by accepting what we are instead of pretending to be what we want to be. We must stop worrying about being smart and avoiding failure, and instead observe, learn, improve, pursue our dream, and get on with life. To succeed, more than ability, we need character—a self-loving, self-believing character.

We learn about the best way to make money because we feel we don’t have enough already. We stand in front of the mirror and affirm how happy we are because we don’t feel happy already. We follow dating and relationship advice because we don’t feel lovable already. Hence, we should start by accepting what we are.

We can pursue our dream by practicing helping each other. The world is too dangerous and too difficult for us to think we can do it alone. Even if you find your spark, it is hard to pursue it.

So, we should build the habit of seeking suggestions and help from people who have gone through adversity. The amazing thing is: when you learn to ask for help, you’ll discover there are people all around you who have always wanted to help. They just didn’t think you needed it because you kept pretending you had everything under control.

After all, we should understand the hard reality of life: everything worthwhile is won through surmounting negative experiences. The pain we endure in the gym makes us healthier and stronger. Failure in business leads us to understand what is necessary for success. Suffering through fear and anxiety is what allows us to build courage and perseverance.

This is the law of nature: we have to go through negative experiences in order to get a positive result. Attempting to escape adversity is a violation of that law.

The avoidance of suffering is a form of suffering. The avoidance of struggle is, in itself, a struggle. The denial of failure is, in itself, a failure. Therefore, if you have a dream—or have found your purpose and meaning in life—you must go through the process to achieve your wildest dream.

We often hear same response if we ask people, “Why do you go to school, university or any institution?” They always argue to get a good and secure job in a big company or with a renowned employer. My concern here is not what their answer is but whose that answer is. I am certain going to university and getting a degree with good grades to get a good and secure job with benefits is not actually their personal opinion. Most of us are so brainwashed by our society and authority that we should go to college and get good grades to secure our future. We are trained, from the cradle to the grave, to follow this obsolete pattern that worked a century before.

Our education system taught us the blueprint of working for others helping them become success through our hard work. Our education system only focuses on scholastic skills that enhances our professional skills and abilities and allow us to work for others. It emphasizes only on our mental ability; to be precise, it doesn’t nurture us to be successful. A history we learn in school will not guarantee our future. We know how to do multiple choices, but we struggle to make decisions, we know how to analyze a poem, but we can’t express ourselves with precision, and we learn about the human body, but not how to find ourselves. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not deriding education. I believe in education; in fact, I believe in it with a passion. It’s just that the education I believe in most is the education that truly teaches us what we need to learn to be successful in our life, to live the life we are designed to live: to live the life of passion. But tragically, it is very hard to change this blueprint of education system that is so deep-seated in our brain.

I do believe we all want to live a jovial life; after all that is our end goal. Everybody wants to live this kind of cheerful life but why only few of them make it happen? It is because most of them lack the courage to change their way, the way of educating themselves and the way they think about themselves. You don’t have enough courage and self-believing ability to quit your way that is nowhere leading you to your destiny. Cooley once stated a quote which goes, “I am not who you think I am; I am not who I think I am; I am who I think you think I am.” We are living in perspective of perspectives and that’s why we are being overwhelmed by failure. You must be aware that you have the power to take control and determine your destiny. The only way to have a successful future is to take control of your future. It is possible by changing your mindsets because what is in your head will be in your hand. For that, you must invest in yourselves, your thinking and believing system because self-investment is the most rewarding investment that allows you to live the life of passion and success.

Living the life of passion means living the life of freedom, freedom to set your own schedules, spend time with friends and families, doing the thing you love to do, living the life you want to live, and you are designed to live- a life of excitement, fulfillment and success. But here arises the most important question: How can you live such kind of life? First, you must understand your purpose, which is the most crucial part of being human. Living life without knowing the purpose is just like dying before we die. To be most precise, it is just surviving life not living the life; and there is a massive difference between surviving and living the life. Purpose here means the beliefs or dreams. A person who is driven by purpose/belief never fails rather he forces universe to live the life he wants to live, he becomes the successful person. Simon Sinek insists, “People don’t buy what you do, people buy why you do.” By ‘why’ he means purpose and beliefs. “For an instance, In the summer of 1963, two hundred and fifty thousand people showed up on the Mall in Washington, to hear the speech of Martin Luther King Jr. even though there were no invitations sent to them, no website to check the date, no Facebook status, no tweets, no Instagram and other social media for advertisement. Also, King was not only the greatest orator of the United States and he was not only the man who suffered in pre-civil rights in America. How in the world its possible to inspire 250,000 people at the same time? Its because he was driven by the purpose, therefore, we went to the people and shared his beliefs. He insists, “I believe..., I believe...., I believe…” and those people who believed what he believes took his believe as their cause and consequently shared that belief to others and lo and behold 250,000 people assembled on the Mall of Washington. The all had a same dream and a common purpose. The most interesting part is those people didn’t gather for Martin Luther King, they came for themselves because it was not only King’s belief but also their own beliefs towards America. Therefore, a man driven by purpose rests only when he becomes success because it is the ‘purpose’ that always inspires and motivates them to persevere and not to give up.

The greatest obstacle from living the life of passion is some degree of self-doubt and fear because these are the greatest distraction of our personal genius. To live the life of success, one should have the courage to follow their dreams. A mind full of fear leaves no room for the dreams. Fear, which is only the state of mind, holds us back from living the life of passion. Hence, if you have a dream with a purpose in your life and have the audacity to follow them, neglecting all the fears, throwing back all the negative vibes, and attracting all the positive values, nothing shall be impossible for you- you can live the life of passion.

Finally, I believe if you master all these elements, then you can live the life of passion. And the best way to master this is to think for yourselves because the next Zuckerberg will not develop Facebook, and next Bill Gates will not build an operating system, either. The core of everything; every success is to know who you are. It starts with ‘YOU’.