Overcoming Fear of Success in Marriage

What do you do when you have achieved your dreams?

What do you do when you have reached, or can see in the immediate future, the fulfillment of your monetary and emotional dreams?

I married the girl of my dreams, my high school sweetheart. We had a rough couple of years, but we worked through them and we are so very happy now, and so very much in love.

I studied what I loved in college. Got a degree in playing (a BFA in theatre). It opened me up emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I grew a tremendous amount and made lifelong friends.

I got a job doing something that is fun. My job will fulfill my financial dreams, more than I honestly believed I was able to achieve up to this point. What’s more, the job leaves me free to spend more time with my family than most people who are employed.

How do you face happiness, success, wealth?

Some men would sabotage it. They would see success staring them in the face and get scared. They would walk away from a lifetime of happiness because that happiness looked so unfamiliar to them. I’ve seen it happen and I’m afraid that this will happen to me. I recognize that it’s my choice, but fear it nonetheless.

Brigham Young, speaking of early Mormons, said

“The worst fear that I have about this people is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and His people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true. But my greater fear . . . is that they cannot stand wealth.”

How to move beyond success so that it doesn’t destroy you?

For me, the question is answered with this: keep moving. I’ve achieved so many of my life’s goals. I’m only 27 years old. Perhaps it’s time to make new goals.

So here’s the question. If you were at the top of your game at 27, what goals would you make? How would your life change?