If you came up to me and asked whether or not you should get married... the best piece of advice I could give you is DON'T DO IT.

If you asked whether you should go into basic science... I'd say the same thing. DON'T DO IT. If you asked about getting a PhD? Don't do it. Becoming an actor? Don't do it. Having kids? Don't do it.

Starting your own business? Don't do it. Starting a biotech company? REALLY don't do it!

Why would I emphatically advise you to not do any of these things? Because if my words are enough to deter you from pursuing these paths, then you never would have made it anyway. Because my words are only one out of thousands of inevitable obstacles, hardships, mishaps, challenges, and failures that will stand in your way. And if you aren't eager enough, devoted enough, fervent enough, and borderline delusional enough to even make it past those three meager little words, then my advice has saved you from wasting years of your life.

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I am so very far from the me I want to be.

When I think about where I am in my personal development, I cringe. Character flaws and social blunders haunt me. I mentally replay mistakes I've made over and over and over. I should have said that differently. I could have handled that better. Things would have turned out better if only I did X instead of Y.

I am in awe of my remarkable friends and their impressive emotional intelligence (EI). How does he always say the right thing at the right time? How does she establish immediate rapport with the entire gamut of personalities? How do they do it all and do it so well? And why does it seem to come so easily to them? I am constantly taking notes and learning from them.

I know I was handicapped by a violently toxic household and the lack of any role models throughout my first 18 years. Looking back at high school, I honestly had one of the lowest EI's out of my peers. And that's amongst high-schoolers, folks! Truly cringe-worthy.

I had a lot of catching up to do in terms of maturity and interpersonal skills. Thanks to the extraordinary people in my life (including my lovely blogosphere buddies ), my personal development has grown immensely. Why these wonderful individuals decided to befriend me, mentor me, guide me, and even love me... I will never understand. When I think about the people in my life, I feel blessed. When I think about how far I've come, I feel encouraged.

I've come a long way. However, there is still so much further to go. It's a moving target, so I doubt that I'll ever be satisfied with my self-development. But I'm proud that I'm not letting my past hold me back or lower my standards. I *will* be the best me that I can be!

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Sometimes I wish I could filter out lengthy conversations in much the same way that the patent system filters out ideas and inventions.

If you're going to talk at length about something, it better be:

• appropriate subject matter
  
• novel
• useful
• non-obvious
• and reasonably enabled

To borrow and modify a quote from Winston Churchill...

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