When you are passionate about your work and your income and influence double year over year over year it gets easy to let your identity mesh with your position in the physical world (and in the minds of others) but invariable things can't double forever. And I do stupid things from time to time that undermine most everything I believe in and my sense of self. Yet I have rebounded quickly nearly every time I tried to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I have recently started feeling quite a bit better, lost about 40 pounds, feel loved, and almost feel a bit of purpose in life.

Today I wore a pullover sweater with one of my brands on it...and it made me giggle and feel cheesy of some sort...which sorta made me feel great about how I am actually quite separate from my brand on many levels.

But it makes me wonder...how long can you sell a brand without becoming attached to it? How can you help others want to believe in something that is in many ways isolated from your identity?

Steve Pavlina had a great article about separating your sense of self and purpose from your position in the real world. A while back I wrote a poem about the arbitrary nature of growth when you use numbers to measure your growth. It is sorta funny how with a lot of the things I write I don't even understand what I am saying when I write it and then I read what someone else says and it makes my own thoughts ideas and statements make more sense to me.

When others give you a sense of clarity, even if their philosophies are not exactly aligned with your direction or purpose in life, it is still highly valuable. Even if a theory is garbage it is still a good thing if the outcome of belief is reflected in the way you live and think about the world. Steve does a good job of making me think when I read his stuff.