MILESTONE REACHED – PART 2: IRON SWORD AND MASTERY
“…if you really want to know who your true family and friends are, do one or all of these: lose your job, go broke, make a public mistake. The ones who are still there after the storm, those are the ones that matter.”
— Robert Downey Jr.
I would add something else:
If you really want to test the loyalty of the people around you, have the audacity — the sheer nerve — to choose a life path different from the expectations people built around you.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PRICE OF CHANGING PATHS
As Robert Greene puts it in Mastery, the moment a person stops molding themselves around expectations other people built for them, resistance starts showing up.
Some people mock you.
Others reduce your effort to a caricature.
And others quietly wait for you to fail, because your growth threatens the version of you they had grown comfortable with.
The incomplete version that gives them a sense of superiority somewhere in their own lives.
By the time people hit their 50s, many of us have seen these dynamics enough times to know how real they actually are.
And they are very real.
You absolutely can turn your life around. But it takes serious work for false narratives and observable reality to stop resembling each other.
THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE NARRATIVE
In my particular case, I experienced this in one of its rawest forms.
Curiously enough, the strongest resistance came from old friends already involved in some of the same creative fields I now want to move into. Musicians among them.
Almost like gatekeepers standing at the entrance.
Like I was trespassing onto their territory.
They definitely made noise about what I was doing… with the telescope dialed in perfectly.
What makes the whole thing morbidly ironic is that one of these guys almost destroyed himself years ago fighting for the exact same thing: the right to choose his own path instead of the one imposed on him by his parents.
The ironies of the dreamer.
In the end, the dream itself chewed him up.
That’s why every small achievement becomes magnified when you watch certain people struggle to process evidence that contradicts the identity they assigned to you for years.
Ever since I started walking this road, the mockery and detracting opinions have flowed nonstop.
But the moment the work started becoming visible — a steadily growing portfolio involving music, production, design, and now even a new company — the narrative started mutating.
At first the posture was:
“He’ll never pull it off. He’s never done anything with his life.”
A year later, right after I uploaded my first productions:
“What he makes is horrible. That music doesn’t even have rhythm.”
Then, once people realized I wasn’t stopping:
“AI must be doing everything for him. Even the stuff he writes.”
And once the little narrative started collapsing, things mutated into something even more curious:
“This is an attack against us!”
As if the simple act of moving forward — just no longer through the dirt road — somehow transformed the patient into an international threat.
Give me a damn break.
And so, while you quietly work on rebuilding your professional life, you end up discovering some very fascinating things about the way certain people react to someone else’s transformation.
THE VERSION MANY PEOPLE PREFER
Some people simply will not accept the version of you that is trying to climb different mountains and become authentic.
That kind of thing forces a brutal mirror in front of them.
They prefer the old familiar version.
The subtly manipulable version.
The version that doesn’t bother anyone with stories about growth, discipline, ambition, or any of that demanding nonsense — and barely resembles the person I used to be when my professional direction was completely different.
That was when Mastery started making even more sense to me.
Because Greene constantly talks about how, when a person genuinely starts moving closer to their vocation, certain social dynamics become permanently altered.
Some people need you to feel small so they can feel big themselves.
WHEN IDENTITY STARTS FALLING APART
And that’s the key:
You will always feel small if your life revolves around fulfilling other people’s expectations while burying your own.
Keep that rhythm going for decades and eventually the personality itself starts deteriorating.
The humor.
The charisma.
The identity itself.
Everything gets scrambled.
And maybe that’s why, when you finally decide to gamble on radical change, there’s so much fear surrounding the dust cloud that’s about to rise.
Because by the time people make decisions that visceral — life-altering decisions — they’re usually already pretty broken internally.
(And in my case, externally too.)
But the alternative had already proven itself far worse.
During one internal argument with myself, I reached a conclusion:
My identity is not some damn hobby.
I genuinely do not think this is something to play around with anymore.
And once that realization truly landed, outside opinions started losing an absurd amount of power over me.
SOLITUDE VS ABANDONMENT
That’s why distance and solitude eventually became necessary for my peace of mind.
But the key is making sure it’s solitude, not abandonment.
Because solitude, when used correctly, is a lethal weapon.
Being able to cook my own soup without other people constantly throwing their seasoning into it?
That is tremendous creative freedom.
Abandonment is something completely different.
Letting yourself go.
Losing your health.
Your presence.
Your ambition.
Your sanity.
That has absolutely nothing to do with a guy disconnecting from distractions while working relentlessly toward his goals.
I already partied and socialized more than enough throughout my life. And quite successfully too, I should add. 😉
Pointless relationships and empty dating right now? What for?
The time will come to focus on finding the woman who actually values what I bring to the table.
For now, these have been — and will continue being — years of sacrifice and grind.
I’ll decide for how long.
And it’s incredible how even THAT somehow generates criticism.
It never stops.
…………………………………………….COFFEE BREAK………………………………………………
SIX MONTHS OF WAR
Eventually, I felt it was worth writing the second part of this warlog connected to the November 2025 launch.
There has been more than enough new material to reflect on.
These last six months felt less like ordinary life and more like a sustained adaptation campaign.
The hacking attempts continued.
I got robbed twice in February through online fraud.
I also fought and won a legal battle against my former landlord and his absurd little circus of a crew.
An experience that confirmed just how quickly people can end up humiliating themselves when they underestimate somebody else.
After that:
- I moved into a new apartment
- built a brand-new soundproof studio
- adopted Falko, the new wolf-like member of my little family
- processed a new nationality (we’re at four now)
- released Reach Volume 1 across all streaming platforms and I’m currently preparing the first single for The One Divide’s next project, Defy Volume 2
- built the website for The One Divide
- founded my game company, Pixel Jab Games, and I’m currently finishing its online ecosystem
- and I’m preparing, hopefully by July, to begin full production on the vertical slice for Iron Sword: Wrath of the Elements — the final major key piece of my portfolio before actively pursuing opportunities in markets where my vocations are actually valued.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING
Among all the ways life shakes your boat around, it’s a relief knowing I’ve managed to protect the most important relationship in my life:
The one I have with my daughter.
There is something profoundly beautiful about becoming genuine friends with your own daughter.
I have never felt abandoned thanks to her unconditional love and loyalty.
Watching her grow responsible with her things. Sharp. Happy. Free.
That gives me tremendous peace.
And honestly, I feel proud of the man I see in the mirror.
Something that wasn’t easy for me to say until not too long ago.
FINAL REFLECTION
Documenting this entire process — the way I’ve been doing for years now — has helped me tremendously on a psychological level, especially during the absence of support that simply never arrived.
These warlogs — recurring little essays documenting the ups and downs of what I’m building — became my own “making of.”
The only risk is this whole thing not ending with one hell of an epic finale.
But honestly, I mainly do this because of how positive these reflections are for me, even if they’re nowhere near Nobel Prize literary material.
They accomplish exactly what they were meant to accomplish.
Leaving behind small traces after every key moment while I continue moving toward the career I want to dedicate the rest of my life to.
This keeps me conscious of everything I’ve truly had to face, adapt to, and build during these years.
And it also reminds me how much road still lies ahead.
For now, this period of my life has mainly been about reclaiming control over my career and professional future.
Eliminating noise.
Eliminating dependence on external approval.
Even if that means walking alone through certain stretches of the road.
Just like I do today.
This is where the story stands for now.
As public as a rumor.
And this is only the beginning.