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Desert Years Research Paper

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The Desert Years

Now, this is where I wish I could tell my happy ending, where I acquire unstoppable confidence, strike it filthy rich a few years later and fly off in my pink unicorn to my mansion on top of a hill at the end of the rainbow, where I sip glasses of Cristal and party nightly with the likes of Diddy and Naomi Campbell.

Nope. Definitely not with me.

Instead, I entered into another "desert" period in my life that lasted five years. It was a period where I experienced very little if any growth whatsoever. Instead I went around in circles, reading book, after book after book, going to different seminars, visiting a hypnotist, talking to coaches, listening to CD after CD, etc, all in the hopes of finding that magic pill, that one …show more content…
I would read each book accompanied with a "trusty" highlighter pen, highlighting everything I found insightful in the book, hoping that somehow these words would seep into my consciousness and help change me.

Sadly, that didn't happen. All I'd get was a dry highlighter pen, but no real personal growth. I instead become a walking "self help" encyclopedia, full of inspirational quotes that made me look all positive and enlightened. I probably was able to recite to you on command, page 73 of every book I read, that's how into "improving myself" I was.

As I read more and more books, I'd feel more "enlightened" and "knowledgeable", but at times, I'd have a somber moment where I'd say to myself, "you have all this knowledge, you've read all these books, but where's the REAL growth?" I'd ponder this briefly and then think, "Oh well, on to the next book!" and sweep the one insight that I TRULY needed to pay attention to under the …show more content…
I went to a hypnotist, hoping she would be able to hypnotize me to be a confident person....that didn't' work. In fact in retrospect, I just think she was a sucky hypnotist (no offense to her). The only "improvement" I got from her was a lesson of not to EVER waste my money or time with her again.

I talked to several coaches...nothing. In fact, one got so frustrated with me he almost kicked me out of his coaching group.

It's funny, because during this period, I remember talking to a guy in my gym who I have to say, was a complete mess. He would complain to me over and over again about his girlfriend and how he didn't trust her. The obvious solution to his "problem" that I would explain to him was to leave her, but he'd have a barrel of excuses of why he couldn't do that. Yet, what surprised me was that he was an avid reader of self-help books, just like me, having ready many of the ones I had. He in fact bragged that he had a whole suitcase full of these books. I thought to myself in utter disgust, "Is this guy serious? Why is this guy such a debacle if he is supposed to have read all these

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