The truth is, being the center of attention is not my first choice. So when my team suggested a book launch party, I was hesitant. But when I remembered all of the unexpected challenges I faced while writing the book, I thought that sharing a bit about those struggles may help someone else.

Like my friend and mentor Steve Houghton said when he introduced me last night,

"We are capable of so much more than we would ever imagine, but it takes courage."

Here are a few things I shared at the book launch that I hope inspire courage in you:

I've been lucky to have role models in my life who have seen something in me that I didn't yet see in myself. I learned to trust their belief in me before I had that belief in myself. Being surrounded by some of them last night reminded me that although writing can feel like a solitary experience, we're never fully alone in what we courageously create.

Part of the reason I wrote the book is because when I recall some of the more difficult times in my life, which at the time felt chaotic, looking back, I can now see there was a certain order and purpose in that chaos: something specific and profound for me to learn.

I want to help people learn to find that clarity in the midst of their own chaos.

One of those times of chaos for me was when my wife got diagnosed with cancer in 2022.

I started writing about what I was going through with no expectation of anyone seeing it. I just needed to write for me and not try to be something for anyone else. It helped me, even if it was only a little, to keep my head above water.

During that time, I came across a documentary, The Power of Myth, with Joseph Campbell. The opening quote is:

Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; and where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.

That quote caused me to ask myself:

What if this moment of chaos in my life was not just happening to me, but for me?

If there’s one idea I’d bet my life on, it’s this:

When you’re in the midst of chaos—uncertainty, pain, or trauma—and you choose curiosity over victimhood, everything begins to change.

Instead of asking, “Why is this happening to me?” you begin to wonder, “What is this opening in me that I couldn’t see before?”

That’s when clarity starts to emerge.

I break it all down in my book: The Creator's Call: Break Free from the Default Path, Live Your Personal Purpose, and Unleash the Creator Within.​

Til next time,

International Bestselling Author, Raleigh Williams, ESQ.

Raleigh Williams
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