One of the questions I struggled to answer as a writer is what happens if I become really successful? How do I handle being well-known, and do I really want that?

Deciding how I was going to handle success was difficult. One’s life can become an open book.

Two things have allowed me to embrace a new, more public me.

The first is that without having done everything that I have done and experienced all that I have experienced, I wouldn’t be the person I am now, or be in the good place I am. My past is how I got here.

The second is that cooperation, connection, and being part of the world are necessary to realize one’s dreams.

I didn’t always think so. I had hoped that public exposure was not a requirement. I would have rather been a hermit, but I was wrong.

Reaching out and being connected to the world is a hard truth that has to be accepted by anyone who has a dream. But it is never enough to think something intellectually and expect to live the idea. Often we know in our minds what to do, but we can’t seem to live it in the world.

The remedy I discovered is not mind over matter. It is mind and heart over matter.

By heart, I don’t mean passion, although that is a factor. I mean knowing something in your heart — taking a concept and literally believing it in your heart. Just because you know something doesn’t mean you really believe it.

Great success requires believing in the dream with body and soul.

Where does heart come from? It comes from connecting. It means embracing our stories, our own and those of others. The heart learns through stories. If there is one thing of extraordinary value that I have learned from writing, it is that.