Experience

The Secret to a More Authentic Life

In the show Better Call Saul, Kim Wexler poses a question to a potential client: Would you grab a suit off the rack, or have one tailor-made? The answer is obvious. We want something specifically crafted for us, something that fits perfectly. The same goes for our lives. We can squeeze into different “jackets” our entire existence, in our careers, with our friends, in our relationships, but what we really need is something tailored to us, something that fits only us. That’s the true path to authenticity.

The only way to find that perfect fit is through experience.

The Illusion of Shortcuts

Have you ever wondered what the open secret to success is? Entrepreneurs, athletes, and online personalities seem to know something we don’t. They’re overnight sensations, a special phenomenon separate from the common man, right?

Could it be luck? Or is it something deeper?

The answer lies in the basics, the fundamentals. It sounds boring and repetitive, which is exactly why people don’t want to hear it. This creates a market for coaches who’ll sell you a course on the “secret” to success. “This is the right way,” they say, as if there’s a universal blueprint, like your parents telling you how you should live your life.

But there are no shortcuts to finding what truly fits you.

Trying On Different Jackets

It’s been a year and a half since I started traveling, and it’s been a journey of highs, lows, and unforgettable experiences. My sanity has been tested. I’ve almost died a couple of times and been so broke it was not a joke. I watched my life savings drain from my account, got into a motorbike accident that cost me $700, and faced the rise and fall of clients more times than I can count.

A lot of my experiences with different jobs was like trying on a different jackets. Some fit better than others. Some looked good from the outside but felt suffocating once I put them on. Others seemed wrong at first but revealed something important about what I actually needed.

The main difficulty I faced this past year was uncertainty, not knowing what would happen next or how to approach it. After experiencing enough “life-ending” events, something shifted. The next time a slow period came around, it was more like “here we go again” rather than “my life is over.” I just needed to find my way around it, and this time I knew the path a little better than last time.

Experience had taught me the fit.

The Comfort Zone Paradox

When I first started my journey, my uncertainty never came from whether I could make it happen, it was more about how I was going to make it happen. I always had this feeling, right from when I quit my job, that it was going to work out. Since then, it’s been about unfolding what I really want to do and creating the proper systems.

Here’s the truth: comfort allows us to work from a safe space, but it becomes limiting if we never step out of it. Growth requires us to try on jackets that don’t quite fit yet, to feel the discomfort of something new pressing against our edges. Not recklessly, but intentionally.

I’ve never been one to take wild risks. I’ve always been cautious, doing my homework before trying something new.

But caution doesn’t mean staying still. It means gathering information through experience, testing the fabric, checking the stitching, seeing how it moves when you wear it.

The more I learned through direct experience, the easier I was able to navigate different scenarios. Eventually, I could even predict what would happen next. Not because someone taught me, but because I’d worn enough jackets to know which ones suffocated me and which ones breathed.

Finding What Fits

Are there any “jackets” in your life that you’re trying to squeeze into?

Maybe it’s a career path that looks impressive but leaves you empty. Maybe it’s a relationship where you’re constantly adjusting yourself to fit someone else’s expectations. Maybe it’s a version of success borrowed from someone else’s Instagram feed.

The awkward dates, the frustrations in our jobs, the moments when something just doesn’t feel right, these are all small indicators of whether the jacket we’re trying on is really ours, or one that we’re just renting.

You can’t tailor-make your life by following someone else’s pattern. You have to try things on, make mistakes, feel the friction, and pay attention to what fits. That’s the unglamorous secret those “overnight successes” know: there is no shortcut to finding your authentic path. There’s only experience, accumulated one worn jacket at a time, until you finally find the one that was made for you all along.

The only question is: are you willing to try it on?