If you ever commit yourself to the art of self-development, you'll be confronted with a cold reality:

No one cares.

Should you mistakenly share your exploits with your peers, at best you'll be ignored.

At worst, your efforts will be ridiculed.

Don't get bitter if this happens, a tribe doesn't want you to be different. When they see you undergoing a positive transformation, it makes them uncomfortable. You're seen as a threat to the status quo, the maverick suddenly reaping chaos from within.

What really happened is that you became a giant flashlight illuminating all their deficiencies, an inconvenient truth forcibly presenting them with the following question:

"If she can change this much, what does it say about me?"

But rather than come up with an answer, they'll label you as a showoff flaunting her superiority.

They're not entirely to blame, people have to be in a receptive frame of mind and at the right stage of life to be open to new ideas. If you were in their position, you would react the same way.

At this point you'll be faced with a tough decision - cut yourself off entirely or drastically limit your time with them. A group will either drag you down to maintain the average or raise you up to their level, so if you want to keep improving you'll need to find new comrades on the same journey.

The choice is yours - either be sabotaged by frenemies or cheered on by allies.

Most importantly, keep in mind that the lone wolf is just a myth. The reason artists starve is because they think they can do it all on their own.

For a while the road will be long and lonely, because people like you are difficult to find:

That's what it means to be rare.

But remember, they're out there waiting for you to find them.

Cheers, and good luck.