THE CLIMB: JUST BE LIGHT

Halfway home from something beautiful and dark, something came out of my mouth that I hadn't planned to say.

I knew I needed to have a conversation with her. I knew I was going to tell her that I was going dark for a while — investing everything into my work, my business, my life. That part I had prepared for. But about halfway home, something else came out. Something I hadn't planned. I'm going to sell everything out of my house. I'm going to get out of my lease. I'm going to go travel and stay in remote places for months at a time. I'm going to take Kirby and just go.

I had no idea where that came from. But a piece came across me — I just got calm in the story.

This is the first time I can remember that I stood up for myself in a constructive, healthy manner. And I want to tell you what that week looked like.

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## I. The Call

The conversation that had been waiting weeks happened first.

That matters. I already had — I just did the difficult part. And then what came after it surprised me.

I got home late. I didn't go to sleep. I stayed up until 1:20 in the morning researching, figuring out what this was going to look like. Not setting exact destinations or permanent landmarks, just the overall mapping of it.

I'm not running from anything. I am not neglecting anything. I'm not making any excuses. I am separating from this life that I have at this moment. I am leaving the city, I am leaving my job, and I'm going to go find out who Cory J Riggs is.

There's fear in me. But there's more calm — a steady understanding that this is the next non-negotiable of my life.

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## II. The Fracture

A few mornings later I sat in my chair and looked at the candles.

I have three main candles I light every morning during meditation. One for love, one for compassion and grace, one for a part of me I've been working with. And then the one from my most recent ceremony.

I decided to let them go out naturally. At the time I told myself it was financial — thirty dollars I needed to hold onto. And there was truth in that. But that morning, without my glasses, I looked over and only one was burning. Just the ceremony candle. Everything else had gone out.

The candles knew before I did.

The compassion candle went first. Love went next. Then the other one. All that remained was the one from the ceremony — the ceremony that had started this whole unraveling. And I realized: that wasn't a financial decision. That was already the destination. I just hadn't caught up to it yet.

Singular focus. That candle has one singular focus: to burn when it's lit. All it can control is — it's lit, so it shines.

I'm leaving all of this here. I'm leaving all those ceremonies, all the rituals, all the hard times and growth in the journey to where I'm sitting right now. It's not that I'm going to forget any of it. It's deeper than that. I just want to leave everything here.

I'm purging my entire life right now. Everything is hitting me right now in this exact moment — that's what I'm doing.

I'm so scared. I have no idea what's going to happen. I have no idea where I'm going to end up.

But what's not scary is I know this is what I need to do for myself. I know this is what my heart and soul needs.

And this is where all the parts become Cory J Riggs.

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## III. The Forge

I did not want to journal that morning.

My phone needed to restart because of an update overnight, so I did that just to delay a little bit. I'm just scared. And I know this is right because I'm getting emotional. Everything that's the noise is just trying to convince me or put me back in the same old pattern — why are you doing this, why would you want to go do that, you don't have to do that.

I'm just literally scared out of my mind.

And here is what I know: no matter which side of that table I decide to look at — whether it's finding another job, or becoming the empire, the bestselling author, all the big dreams — no matter which way I look into the future, it gives me some anxiety. So it's not that.

One path is living the same life I live now. The other one is living the best dream that I could absolutely believe in myself.

The easy part is living the way I live now. Find a job, have the bills that fit within your budget, stay stuck in that small arena. You find people that align with your life, that are in a similar mental state, a similar emotional state, and you just stay stuck in this little bubble. And that's easy.

But that's not living. That's just the Walking Dead.

The hard is what gives you the fulfillment. The hard is what gives you the joy, the confidence, the competence, the purpose, the everything. Leaving is not the quitting. Quitting would be to choose to stay in the same place.

I need to leave this organized. I can't walk out and leave a mess behind. I need the transition to not be about where I'm going, but about what I'm leaving, and it needs to be tidy. I've always left a wake behind. Not this time.

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## IV. The Collapse

Then the soccer player came to me.

There was a kid — hardworking, loyal, believed in the system, believed in me. When the decision came down to it, I chose other players over him. Players that were flashier, that made the team look better. And that kid and his family — they left, and they don't really talk to me anymore.

I tell this story because it hit me: that's what I do to myself.

That is the ego versus the heart internally. Where I make decisions based on fear, pain, suffering, look, aesthetics — over what I know is good for me, what is truer to my heart. I took the flashy player over the hard-working kid who believed in me, believed in my system, until I gave him a reason not to.

It was all words. It was all aesthetics. It was all stories.

Self-leadership cannot merely be meditated upon, journaled about, or posted to social media. It must be lived.

Now it's time to build that man from the inside out. It's time to build that man who would choose the hard-working, loyal person who wants to grow, who believes in himself and the system he is creating, and not go for the flashy, the hey look at me.

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## V. The Return

That week I told my closest friends what I'm going to do.

One showed love and encouragement. The other was harder. I see this, but I'm not sure he does, or can, at this moment. More of it is a fear of me moving on, me growing, me trying to become something better than what I've been. And I think that is awakening something inside of him, and I hope it is. I just have to be strong through how he handles the next two months, and not take it personally, because I know he loves me.

Then there was a woman I'd been seeing who I needed to be honest with. We had a nice text conversation. I will continue being a friend. She's a good person, she aligns in a lot of things — just not on the partner side right now. And I don't know what the future holds.

Then there was a text that stung. Okay right. Insinuating I'm not a gentleman, insinuating I meant something I did not mean. She is not going to tell me that I am not a gentleman. That is a reflection of her and how she may have been treated by other men.

I didn't respond. And I'm not going to.

Where my growth triggers heaviest is in relationships — both friends and romantic. And I'm grateful that I can see these things now. Not respond in that old way. Not beg for forgiveness, not over-explain, not chase, not change who I am.

It's not my job to make them see what I see. The best way I can help is just continue being me, keep moving forward, and allow them to see what they need to see for themselves. If they come along, great. If they don't — that's their choice.

This stems from the fear of loss. Not just of people. The fear of loss of the known, the easy, the what's right in front of me. And I realize that if I manipulate the situation or change who I am, that's not genuine, not good for me, not good for them, and it's not sustainable.

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## VI. The Walk

The final meditation that week was everything the morning didn't start with.

It was so grounded, so visual. The noise had subsided. And the biggest message was simple:

Build your foundation. Quit looking beyond it. Focus on what is going to carry the building of everything that comes after.

You are not going on this journey to end up with massive wealth and massive followers and massive reach. Whatever happens, happens. But you are going to build your foundation. You are going to find who you are. You are going to learn how to create for yourself, how to create your own money, how to create your own life.

You are not going to build your empire in six months.

My foundation is self-leadership. My foundation is the LAF Method. My foundation is This Man.

Without a foundation, nothing else happens.

And just like that candle — the one from the ceremony, the last one burning — the only job it has, the only job I have, is this:

Just be light until it can't be.