Ryan Gomez

I do not belong to the ruling class (0.1%).
And I do not belong to the mediocre (95%+).
I live in another category that few acknowledge.

Virtuous outliers are defined by character, not mood.
We choose authenticity instead of "desirable outcomes" every time.
We treat attention, health, and time as non negotiable assets.
Solitude is not escape. It is the preservation and nurturing of the soul.
I read, think, and write until illusions fall apart.
I train discomfort so comfort cannot rule me.
I accept what is outside my control and fully command what is inside it.
I refuse to trade reason and wisdom for approval.
Power does not impress me when it is unearned or unprincipled.
Popularity does not tempt me when it requires self betrayal.
I measure myself against my own standards of excellence.
The standards of society are irrelevant to me.
General comparison is a disease.
If I compare, it is to find inspiration.
When I am tired, my compounded habits and lifestyle carry me through.
When I am betrayed, my principles absorb the blow.
"There is nothing new under the sun." I do not worship novelty.

I build privately with precision.
Nothing can corrupt me.
Not ego. Not pride. Nothing.
Nothing can distract me.
I keep the momentum.

I align my actions with nature and reality, then I let the world do what it will.

This path is without regret.
The point is not to win the broken game.
The point is to protect virtue, authenticity, and wholeness.
I approach this life with strategy, reason, and wisdom.
This is the highest quality way of living.

Related read:

Greed & Addiction
https://rgessays.com/greed-and-addiction

Sometimes I feel like I’m trolling the world.

Not in the petty, mocking sense, but in the deeper, unspoken way that living with clarity and peace seems to disrupt everything the world is built on. I rejected everything they told me I needed to pursue. Toxic comparison, ego, greed, addiction, distraction, conformity, groupthink, a traditional social life, external validation, status games. All of it. I turned away from society not because I was "superior." I turned away because I had a burning desire for adventure. Something real. Something clean. Something that would let me breathe.

And now "somehow" I’m one of the most peaceful, content, and internally fulfilled people on earth. Not because I unintentionally found my way there... Not because I was born into perfect conditions...

I refused to betray myself. I refused to decay morally. I refused to conform.

People look at me and assume I’m some anomaly. A genetic outlier. A “naturally happy” person. They see the calm on my face, the steadiness in my actions, the centeredness in my presence and they assume it was given to me, as in pure luck. They don’t see the years of solitude, reflection, resistance, loss, and rebuilding. They don’t see the moments I chose clarity instead of comfort, or integrity instead of inclusion and "fitting in." They don’t know how often I died to the old self just to stay aligned with what I knew was right and sincere. I don’t advertise it. I don’t need to. What I’ve built speaks for itself.

I drained the shallows. Society is obsessed with the shallows. The constant scrolling, the superficial updates, the irrelevant opinions, the performances. Everyone’s seeking stimulation, status, or the next distraction. And I get it. The world order is designed to keep people trapped in the shallows. It’s not entirely their fault. It's not a fair fight. But still, I see people waste their one shot at existence pursuing illusions! More followers, a "whose body is the hottest" competition, another hit of cheap dopamine, a level of status to impress the next stranger who doesn’t even care. They live at the surface and then wonder why they feel empty and pathetic. Most make a bad situation worse than it needs to be. They let entropy destroy reason, free will, spiritual health, patience, hope, and courage. Ngmi.

Figuratively, I stepped away from society permanently. Not out of arrogance. Out of self respect.

I realized early that none of the nonsense would matter when I’m dying. At the end of my life, what will I care about? That I impressed a faceless crowd I didn’t like? That I fit into a system that felt wrong and dystopian to me? That I accumulated empty markers of "success" while my soul starved in the background? No. I will care that I lived in sincerity, truth, and reason. That I followed my heart, and explored. That I saw clearly. That I stood firm when it would've been easier to imitate the sleepwalkers. That I lived unapologetically myself, rooted in a reality deeper and drastically more fulfilling than the senseless game everyone else was playing.

This is why I feel like I’m trolling society. Because I was supposed to fall for the deception. I was supposed to be seduced, distracted, addicted, broken, compliant, obedient. But I see through it. I didn’t just reject society. I understood it deeply. And I live differently. Privately. Meaningfully. On my terms. Not recklessly. Strategically. Thoughtfully.

I'm self actualized. My profound peace isn't known to many, but it’s real and enduring. I don’t need to scream that I’m winning. The few who notice, really notice... can feel it in my presence. They ask questions. They sense the difference. Some are threatened or intimidated by it. Some are inspired. Either way, no one really has power over me because I mastered my internal state. I didn’t choose this path to impress anyone. I chose it because I refuse to die asleep.

I'm 26 and still young for a while, but I know death is coming eventually. The reality of eventual death keeps me focused and embracing what matters. When death comes for me, I won’t panic. It can come next month if that's what's meant to be. I live in accordance with nature. I’ve already rehearsed the letting go. When the final moment arrives, I will meet it with peace and contentment. Not regret. That’s how I live in the present moment. Like someone who’s already made peace with the inevitable end.

While sleepwalkers anxiously go about their unnecessary drama and suffering, I’m building something worthwhile. Passionately. A life story that doesn’t depend on external permission. A curious mind that doesn’t need to be constantly soothed by false comfort. An empathetic, kind heart that isn’t for sale. I am not here to follow the conventional script. I’m here to live fully. And I will not waste this precious journey.

Let them think I’m simply lucky. Let them try to explain it away. Let the haters hate. I don't mind.

What matters is I myself know why I sustain exceptional well being. I know what it costed me.

And I know I would choose it all again. I wouldn't want to be anyone else. I enjoy seeing from my eyes, my heart, my mind, my soul.

Grateful and sincere till the end. One must sincerely love and respect himself to sincerely love and respect another.

This post goes well with these posts:

Choose Reason Anyway
https://rgessays.com/choose-reason-anyway

I'm at a point where there's nothing left to chase.
https://rgessays.com/im-at-a-point-where-theres-nothing-left-to-chase

I genuinely love my life.
https://rgessays.com/i-genuinely-love-my-life

The Foundation of Strong Character
https://rgessays.com/the-foundation-of-strong-character

I am most inspired by those who remain entirely hidden from public view.
https://rgessays.com/i-am-most-inspired-by-those-who-remain-entirely-hidden-from-public-view

Greed & Addiction
https://rgessays.com/greed-and-addiction

View my full list of posts here: https://rgessays.com/archive

You may be gone, but I see you in detail.

Your struggle, your pain, your clarity, your strength. I see it all. I feel it all. And I carry it now as resolve.

Some of you made it far before the world took too much from you. Some of you were cut down before your voices could even rise. But all of you, in different places, in different times, knew what it meant to live with depth, with dignity, with a silent, internal determination that no one understood. And for that alone, thank you. Thank you for deeply inspiring me.

I survived. That truth sometimes feels undeserved. I know I endured crises that mirrored yours. But where I barely made it, you were permanently overwhelmed. Where I was spared, you were lost. And so my life now, my peace, my strength, my clarity. It carries your name in invisible ink. You will never be forgotten.

To those who stood in defiance, even as your bodies collapsed, even as your minds strained, even as the world misjudged or dismissed you. I see you.

To those who couldn’t carry on, not because you lacked will, but because your environment crushed you. Because you were too alone. Too misunderstood. I see you.

To those who tried again and again, with nothing but courage and hope, and were still broken. I see you.

You are not lost to me. I remember you. I feel your absence and your presence both. You may not have survived in the way this world measures survival, but your essence moves through me every day. I will honor you by the way I think, the way I act, the way I refuse to compromise what is real. My strength is not just mine anymore. It is ours.

I walk forward carrying your unfinished fight. You were not weak. You were never weak. You were warriors born in a world that had no place for warriors like you. And still, you gave everything.

So now, I give something back. I make this vow.

You will never be forgotten.
Until my last breath.
I see you in detail.
I will honor you.
Always.

It takes years to experience a substantial, life changing breakthrough because most of what matters is invisible at first. I’m often laying foundations that aren't fully seen in the moment. Skills, patterns of thought, emotional resilience, strategic perspective, inner clarity, and so on. These things don’t show results immediately, but they are prerequisites for durable, enduring success. I think many years ahead.

The compounding effect is slow and often painful. At first, rare progress looks like failure to others. I’m not following a standard, conventional path. I’m exploring, learning, and discarding what doesn’t work. And since I’m unwilling to conform blindly to society, I've spent years patiently becoming an outlier.

Scripted systems are so slow to reward outliers. Institutions mistrust originality. Mediocrity is safer to them. So if I’m building something rare, there are difficulties to overcome. Doubt, rejection, bureaucracy, loneliness. Most settle for mediocrity quite easily. I didn’t. I've always been resourceful and creative enough to negotiate with people. I see every challenge as perfectly imperfect, and then I make the most of it.

When the breakthroughs occur, it’s not because something changed suddenly, but because I didn’t quit through all the unseen progress. There's a sort of worthwhile ripple effect. I made myself ready. Day by day. Month by month. Year by year. Eventually reality caught up.

"Flexible on the details. Firm on the vision."

Most confuse speed with hurry. They think moving fast means rushing, reacting, or working frantically. But speed, the kind that actually matters, is about precision. Sharp execution. It’s about being deliberate, composed, and aware. It’s doing the right thing at the right time with full presence. No wasted motion. No excess.

Progress has less to do with how much you do and more to do with what you choose not to do. Most things can wait. Distraction doesn’t deserve your energy. Most problems are either distractions or illusions. And very few actions are truly high leverage. The goal isn’t to do more. It’s to do better. To operate from clarity. To know what matters and ignore everything else. Clear thinking and sharp strategy.

I’m not trying to win some shallow productivity game. I make one or two genuinely good moves, every single day. That’s it. If I can consistently do that over months and years, I will end up in a completely different place than someone who sprints blindly in all directions. Depth compounds. Strategic discipline compounds. So does clarity. That’s why I protect my energy, my inputs, and my time. That's why I think so deeply and carefully.

If I make just one key decision with precision, everything else becomes obvious (or unnecessary). That’s how I define speed. Not by random activity, but by traction. Quality momentum.

The paradox is that to move fast, I had to slow down internally. "Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast."

I remove distractions. I always clean up my internal state. I'm ruthless about what’s worth my focus. This is NOT about being a perfectionist. It’s about being sharp and awake. In the pursuit of excellence. Awake enough to filter out the unnecessary, ignore the fake urgency, and channel my determination toward what really matters.

You don’t need to be all over the place all the time. You need to be where it counts. You don’t need to make 100 decisions. You need to make 3 that actually matter. But those 3 need to be right. And to get them right, you need silence. You need stillness. You need space to think critically. You need to take your own judgment seriously enough to build your lifestyle around it. Eliminate unnecessary context switching. Commit to one passionate, quality step at a time.

That’s what high quality execution means to me. It’s not a blind hustle. It’s a craft. It’s strategic. Intentional. Sustainable. Rare.

Time is the most precious resource. Everything I’m building, internally and externally, depends on the precise, deliberate use of my time and attention. I don’t treat these as casual or renewable because I know they shape the direction of my life story for years to come. Every breakthrough I’ve had came from focused energy, not just random effort. My entire system of progress is built on clear thinking, depth, and alignment. All of which are impossible without me ruthlessly protecting time and attention. Nothing can outperform the compounding power of focused time applied to meaningful work. Not focused? Then ngmi.

You can't connect the dots looking forward. The future is never 100% visible in advance. It fully reveals itself only when I look backward. In moments of adversity, confusion, and loneliness, clarity is always incomplete. Yet somehow, the deepest insights and greatest achievements in my life emerged precisely from those uncertain periods. I've learned that trying to predict the future 100% is useless. Trusting that the dots will eventually connect is key. When I faced rejection, setbacks, or loss, it felt senseless at the time. Only later could I see how those experiences prepared me for something profoundly better.

I discovered resilience through suffering, clarity through confusion, and wisdom through necessary mistakes. Some of the best decisions I've made never felt entirely safe or entirely rational in the moment. They provided wisdom over time, often long after I'd made them. The path I followed was often scrappy, uncertain, and impossible to justify logically in advance. Yet every unconventional step I took turned out to be necessary, even crucial, when reflected upon in retrospect.

This truth liberated me from the burden of always needing immediate, 100% clarity. I trust my intuition and values to guide me when the road ahead remains uncertain. I understand deeply that faith in the journey, and in my own ability to adapt, matters more than certainty about specific outcomes. My most meaningful breakthroughs arose from embracing the unknown, rather than resisting or fearing it. All the risk, moments of disciplined solitude, and hard choices eventually connected beautifully to form a priceless, personalized story.

Today my peace and confidence come from knowing I don't have to see 100% clearly ahead. Instead, I trust the integrity of my choices, believing fully that they'll make sense when viewed from a future vantage point. Life is lived forward, and more clearly understood backward. That's the mystery, challenge, and beauty of it. By moving ahead with courage and conviction, I know that I'll look back and see precisely how each dot connected as they were meant to be.